The Tamers meet The Digidestined
by C.Queen
Summary: Ryo's dissappears and it's Rika, Alice, Renamon and Cyberdramon to the rescue with the Digidestined? the second season of Digimon?
1. Where is Ryo ?

Disclaimer: I don't anything but the plot. I hope you enjoy and review cause I'd love to hear from you.  
  
  
  
The Tamers Meet The Digidestined  
  
  
  
Begins in the home of Rika Nonaka, a Digimon Tamer who has recently turned nineteen and is fast asleep. She's dreaming of her boyfriend Ryo and it is by no means a good dream as her heart tells her that something is seriously wrong.  
  
Rika knew something was wrong before she even opened her eyes. If someone had asked her how she knew she couldn't have told them but something was wrong and it had to do with Pretty boy. Breathing hard Rika opened her eyes and quickly sat up in her bed as she tried to sort through what her heart was telling. Ryo was in trouble was all she could think as she jumped out of bed. It had only been a few months since she and Ryo had started dating so why was she so sure he needed her, it wasn't like they had some kinda mind connection or anything.  
  
  
  
Running across her room Rika grabbed her cell-phone off her desk and quickly punched in Ryo's cell phone number thinking to prove herself wrong, he'd answer the phone and tell her not to worry. It was just a bad dream she repeated over and over in her head but as the dial phone continued to sound she felt something get an icy grip on her heart when no one picked up. Punching delete Rika began to pace her room as she tried to talk herself out of going over to Ryo's house. "This is really stupid." Rika muttered to herself as she walked from one end of the room to another. "He's asleep or didn't hear it ring."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Rika what is it?" Renamon asked appearing before her as if from out of thin air, which she could kinda do. Renamon and the rest of the Digimon could only come to the real world for short periods of time now and she could have got down on her knees and thanked god that Renamon had come to the Digital World to visit her that week.  
  
"Oh Renamon!" Rika cried as she threw herself into Renamon's arms, which caught her out of reflex. "Something's taken Ryo or something really bad has happened to him."  
  
"What do you mean Rika?" Renamon asked as she held her Tamer close. Rika was not an emotional person and usually hid all signs of emotion.  
  
"I know it sounds crazy but I know that something bad has happened to him. You've got to believe me!" Rika cried staring intently at her partner.  
  
"Have you tried phoning him?" Renamon asked as she patted Rika's back while trying to think of what to do. Rika's wasn't an emotional person and she was obviously really upset.  
  
"Yea but no one answered." Rika said pulling back with her mask fully in place.  
  
"Why don't you try again and I'll call his home number to see if they know where he is." Renamon said as she smiled reassuringly at her.  
  
"Okay but I know something isn't wrong." Rika said as she picked up the phone. Walking downstairs Renamon headed straight for the other phone to call Ryo's house and prayed that Ryo would answer one of the calls.  
  
"I couldn't get him on his cell-phone." Rika said as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"I called his father and he said that Ryo had gone camping in the Digital World." Renamon said as she hung up the phone. Just then a scream came from the backyard followed completely by silence. Sharing a look Renamon took off in the direction of the backyard as fast as they could move.  
  
"That's mom." Rika cried as she and Renamon dashed for the door and came hurling out into the back porch.  
  
  
  
  
  
"What's he doing here?" Renamon wondered as she saw Cyberdramon leaning over Rika's mother who was lying on the ground in what looked to be a dead faint. Cyberdramon had never met Rika's mother as far as she could remember and she had a feeling that their first meeting hadn't gone well.  
  
"Cyberdramon what happened." Rika asked as she rushed over to her mother, bending down on one knee to check her mother's pulse which she found without trouble.  
  
"I asked to see you, she screamed and fainted." He growled as he shook his head at the weakness of humans. It wasn't as if he'd snuck up at her or come at her from behind. How had such a woman raised Rika?  
  
"Will she be all right Rika?" Renamon asked as she stood beside Rika who was now trying to wake her mother who wasn't co-operating.  
  
"She'll be fine once she's done her faint. What are you doing here Cyberdramon? Does it have to do with Ryo? Is he okay?" Rika asked anxiously as she carefully laid her mother down on the grass before getting to her feet to look at Cyberdramon in the eye. They had a mutual respect for each other and that was about it.  
  
Cyberdramon stared at her. He didn't really care for his Tamer's choice in mate but she was stronger then most and he needed her help for Ryo's sake. She had her good points and made Ryo happy, he could have done far worse.  
  
  
  
  
  
"He's been taken." Cyberdramon growled as he waited for her to let him have it for making her mother faint, whatever that was. He was pretty sure she wasn't dead but he wasn't completely sure she was unharmed.  
  
"Taken where?" Rika cried as she looked up at him, completely forgetting about her mother as she tried to hide her panic.  
  
"I don't know where, a strange Data Stream appeared out of nowhere and took him away. I was too far away to reach him in time. Impmon is also missing." Cyberdramon growled back at her as he kept his words to a minimum.  
  
"A strange data stream took him? But why?" Renamon asked more to herself then the others. Data streams picked up things all the time but they didn't appear out of nowhere, you usually could see them coming soon enough to get out of their way.  
  
"We should go to Hypnos." Rika said firmly as she knew that figuring this out was beyond her knowledge. "If anyone can tell us where that data stream took him it'll be Alice."  
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile at the organization known as Hypnos a figure dressed all in black was busy breaking into files she shouldn't have been in and having a marvelous time doing it. Smiling at the stupidity of the governments her organization worked with the girl turned on her laptop and hooking it up to a computer began to type in codes that would help her in her intended target.  
  
  
  
Eighteen-year-old computer genius Alice McCoy glared at her keyboard then quickly entered another password with a skill belaying her young years. "Damn." She muttered to herself, as the password wasn't accepted. Fingering her cross that she always wore around her neck Alice glared at the password denied sign flashing in front of her. "Well now I'm mad."  
  
Grinning evilly the girl accessed a special addition she'd made to her computer and quickly keyed in her instructions. Immediately the computer screen was consumed by her favorite color before returning to its original state, code broken. "Don't mess with the Dark Angel, you only end up black." Alice said as she accessed the necessary files. Rapidly typing Alice was unaware of her guest behind her.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You'd think on a great day like this she'd be outside instead of in here, on a Saturday morning." Renamon said quietly as she watched Alice break several federal laws with the easy of a child making a block tower. Like her father Alice was obsessed with computers and except for the first time they'd met Renamon couldn't remember a time when she hadn't see the girl with a laptop.  
  
"I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that what you're doing is illegal." Rika said as she walked over to her friend who until Rika had spoken had been totally unaware that they were there. But then neither of them were loud people.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Alice asked as she looked over to where they were standing while absently saving all the files she'd been accessing onto her hard drive.  
  
"And why'd you bring Distructo?" Alice asked waving her hand in Cyberdramon's direction who she'd never gotten along with. Cyberdramon wasn't a people person and nether was Alice, they chose to avoid each other.  
  
"We need your help." Rika said obviously not thrilled about it because even though they were friends Alice rarely did anything for free. Purple eyes assessed blue as the two girls stared at each other.  
  
"What do you need?" Alice asked curiously as she pushed a lock of pale blond hair out of her eyes while never taking them off of her unexpected guests. "I'm kinda busy right now."  
  
"A data stream appears to have kidnapped Ryo and possibly Impmon as well." Renamon said coolly as she came to stand beside Rika.  
  
"So in other words you want me to find out where it took them." Alice said with a raised eyebrow as she thought over the idea, finally a challenge and Rika would owe her a favor. "This day is definitely looking up." Alice said to herself as she waited.  
  
"We'd really appreciate it." Rika said, grinching her teeth slightly. There was something about this girl that always managed to rile her since the first time she'd seen her with Dobermon. Maybe it's the fact that they were so much alike Rika thought with irony as she waited for Alice's answer. Which is why they made such great friends Rika thought, they understood each other.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Why not." Alice said turning back to her computer, absently cracking her knuckles as she prepared to work her magic. Clearing the screen of the classified government documents she'd accessed Alice accessed the sensors they'd installed to monitor the Digital World and began to type in passwords and figures. "When and where did he go missing?" Alice said without looking up from the screen as she waited for her answer.  
  
"He disappeared at around six in the morning today. We were beside Mormon's cave, packing up to go when Impmon interrupted us." Cyberdramon said as he too walked closer to the screen.  
  
"Okay well lets see what the sensors have to say about this stream shall we." Alice said as she typed the information in, her fingers dancing across the board, her eyes the only pair that understood what was flying across the screen.  
  
  
  
"You're very good at that." Renamon said, breaking the silence as she tried to understand the words and symbols on the screen.  
  
"Thanks." Alice replied as she shook her head at the data that the computer was giving her. "This can't be right." Alice said scanning the data for signs of error. She was sure she'd done everything correctly but the information that was coming up didn't make sense. Unless of course something was seriously wrong in the Digital World.  
  
"What's wrong?" Rika asked as she leaned forward, reading over Alice's shoulder but understanding maybe half of it.  
  
"According to this Ryo and Impmon aren't in the Digital World anymore. According to this data he was taken to another dimension of The Real World or something along those lines, I can't even tell you for sure where they are!!"  
  
  
  
  
  
" You know if you wanted my help you could've told me first." Ryo Akiyama said as he rubbed his head, which still hurt from hitting the ground head first. One minute he'd been telling Impmon to buzz off and the next thing he'd known he'd been falling to hit the earth with a thud and a lot of pain.  
  
"You know this jerk? Figures." Impmon said as he glared at the humans who were responsible for getting him here. Why didn't it surprise him that the morons who'd done this knew Ryo, after all morons liked company.  
  
"This is your Digimon Ryo?" Ken Ichijouji asked skeptically as he looked at the small purple digimon with a weird happy face on his stomach. This wasn't the type of Digimon he'd have paired his friend with at all.  
  
"No he belongs to some friends of mine who are too young to realize they're better off without him. My digimon, Cyberdramon, was left behind when your data stream or whatever it was picked us up." Ryo said as he glared back at the Digimon who'd gotten dragged along with him for the ride. Why oh why couldn't the stream have missed Impmon or better yet vaporized the little brat.  
  
  
  
  
  
"So why'd you morons bring us here anyway?" Impmon said tapping his foot impatiently as he looked up at them. "Ali and Mako will be worried if I don't get home soon and they try to find me."  
  
"Actually we brought you here because we need Ryo's help. Genni told us that in order to beat Aracnamon we'd need his help and he's usually right about these things." Izzy replied as he looked down at the digimon with interest. He didn't recognize the little guy but he had a feeling that he was a character.  
  
"I don't believe we've met. I'm Ryo and this wasted of Digital information is Impmon." Ryo said figuring he better change the subject before Impmon opened his big mouth again.  
  
"Yea I know. I'm Koushiro Izumi but you can call me Izzy." Izzy said as he shook Ryo's hand with a welcoming smile. "Nice to met you, oh and this is my Digimon, Tentamon."  
  
"Nice to met you too. Now who's Genni and what is Aracnamon?" Ryo asked as he withdrew his hand to turn back to face Ken. He hadn't seen him in a long time and Ryo had plenty of questions but he had a feeling they'd have to wait.  
  
"Genni's kinda like an information guide and Aracnamon is some kind of Digimon gone terrible wrong." Wormon said with a trace of humor.  
  
"So when do we met them?" Ryo asked as he stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked around them.  
  
"Were not sure, they both come and go as they please." Ken said sadly as he shook his head. "That's what's going to make this so difficult."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Which means that you're probably going to be standing Rika up huh Ryo?" Impmon said evilly as he grinned up at Ryo, his day suddenly looking a lot better.  
  
"Oh my GOD SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME!!!!" Ryo yelled as he swore under his breath vividly and with feeling. He was suppose to meet Rika for lunch today at the mall and boy was she going to be mad when he didn't show up. "I'm a dead man, a friggin dead man."  
  
"Well it wasn't nice knowing you." Impmon said with a whistle as things got a little bit better by the minute. With any luck Rika would dump him over this and find someone worthy of her.  
  
"I ... am such a dead man." Ryo said as he bowed his head seeing his life flash before him which didn't take that long given that he'd only been around for twenty one years. How was he going to explain this one to her?  
  
  
  
  
  
"So in other words what you're trying to tell me is that a data stream was deliberately sent to pick up Ryo and the Digimon closest to him?" Rika said in disbelief as she tried to make sense of what lice had been telling her.  
  
"That's what it looks like but you can check it o out if you want to." Alice said sarcastically as she brought up data after data that would only make sense to an experienced hacker or computer expert would understand.  
  
"But why just him and Impmon?" Renamon asked as she shook her head at the thought of anyone deliberately picking up Impmon.  
  
"I don't know. That's strange. What? No way, it can't be. Can it?" Alice said as a piece of data caught her eye and she began to rapidly type as she pulled on the small thread she'd found.  
  
"What is it?" Rika asked as she quit her pacing.  
  
"Every hacker has his or her own style, a calling card if you will that other hackers can recognize. This particular heist has the markings of Digidestined." Alice said breathing his name in an almost whisper.  
  
"Digi who?" Cyberdramon asked, eager to find out who his opponent would be.  
  
"Digidestined, it's his code name, what he goes by online. We use to chat all the time online but we stopped emailing each other a while ago. There are inconsistencies with it but at least part of it was created by him, I'm sure of it." Alice said with a grim smile of satisfaction that she'd found a piece of the puzzle.  
  
  
  
"So how do we find this guy?" Rika asked as she rubbed her hands together as she pictured all the lovely things she was going to do to this person when she got a hold of him or her.  
  
"The only way to find him would be to go where the data stream was activated." Alice said as she cracked her fingers again before activating even more systems which in titled breaking more then a few laws.  
  
"And where is that?" Renamon asked as she watched Rika and Alice sigh almost in union.  
  
"That would be in the other dimension." Alice said grimly. "Looks like finding your boyfriend is going to be a little harder then you thought.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You'll never make it alone and there's no guarantee that it will work." Alice said as she tried to think of what she could say to make Rika realize how dangerous her plan was an hour later as she listened to Rika's outrageous idea.  
  
"It'll work. All you have to do is send us through another one of those data streams and then we'll go and find Ryo, Impmon and find this Digidestined and convince him to find another hobby." Rika said with a courageous grin that hid her growing nerves. She was going, but she wasn't stupid, this was probably a bad idea.  
  
"Look even if you did get there and that's a big if the chances of you getting back are zilch the way things stand." Alice said with exasperation as she quelled the urge to throw her arms up in exasperation. "You would have no idea how to get back."  
  
"Well if you're so worried about us why don't you come with us?" Rika said rashly before she thought about it.  
  
  
  
Surprised Alice stared at Rika in surprise, she hadn't been expecting that little curve ball. "You want me to come with you?"  
  
"Why not, it's better then hanging around in here all day breaking laws at the speed of light." Rika said as she smiled at Alice's surprised expression.  
  
"You're serious, you want me to come with you, to the other dimension?" Alice said not quite believing it. She was a loner by nature and it was very rare that people got excited about going anywhere with her. The other tamers were her friends but it wasn't like they were that close to each other.  
  
"Yea I'm serious and besides if anyone can get us there and back it's you." Rika said warming to the idea. She respected Alice and knew that even though they weren't the closest of friends she'd have a better chance with Alice with them.  
  
"Why not." Alice said before she could think about it. This has got to be the stupidious thing I've ever done Alice thought to herself as she watched Rika smile split her face at her agreement. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. This was going to be the dumbest thing she'd ever done all right.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Do you own anything that isn't black?" Rika asked hours later as she helped Alice stuff her backpack full of clothes, which was being done really quickly since Alice didn't have to chose things that matched. Ever piece of clothing that was shoved in was black.  
  
"It's my favourite color." Alice said as she stuffed a black shirt into her bag with a sigh.  
  
"Yea well mines purple but I don't wear the color twenty-four seven." Rika resorted as she grinned at the other girl as they started a familiar argument. They'd been arguing about it for almost six years and it was still running strong.  
  
"Let's get something straight, Nonaka. I'll get you and your boyfriend home and in exchange you'll refrain from commenting on my wardrobe." Alice said as she zipped up her bag shut, which she managed after a bit more squashing of clothing. "Well that's everything." Alice said not even giving Rika time to agree.  
  
"Then lets head for the other dimension." Rika said picking up her own bag, which she'd pack while Alice had accessed all the data she could about the strange data stream.  
  
"Aren't you going to get the rest of the Tamers?" Alice asked suddenly realizing that Rika hadn't mentioned them in the equation.  
  
"Henry and Suzi are away with their parents remember; and the rest have jobs or in Kazu and Kenta's case I wouldn't bring them if you paid me. It's just you, me, Renamon and Cyberdramon to the rescue."  
  
"Oh joy." Alice said as she slugged the bag over her shoulder. "Let's get out of here before I wise up and change my mind."  
  
  
  
"Well were here, your home away from home." Rika said as they walked into the deserted Hypnos building later that afternoon being careful to keep out of sight. There were a few people working in the building but most didn't notice them and those that did simply assumed that they were going to visit their friends in the Digital World "How'd you talk your dad into letting you come here without Yamachi's permission?"  
  
"I helped design the security system, they don't know we're here without his permission." Alice said as she pulled out her handy lab-top.  
  
"You're very resourceful." Cyberdramon commented as he moved as quietly as someone of his size could.  
  
"Thanks Distructo." Alice said as she headed down the stairs to her work area. "Well let's see if this'll work." Turning on her computer Alice accessed the Digital portal. "Okay, lets head to the Digital World and if we make it there in one piece we'll try the other dimension."  
  
  
  
Well that's it for now, please review and let me know what you think. 


	2. Arrival At The New Dimension In One Piec...

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the overall plot. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing and I hope you enjoy.  
  
  
  
Arrival At The Other World In One Piece.  
  
  
  
"Well were here." Renamon said as she looked around at her surroundings. "I think." She added as she looked around her carefully. They'd transported from their world to their Digital World from a park and the one appeared to be in was really similar in a lot of ways.  
  
"It was nice of the Sovereigns to help us get here." Rika said as she looked around too, wishing that she knew more about what they were getting themselves into.  
  
There first couple tries to create a similar data stream hadn't worked and if the Sovereigns hadn't shown up to help them modify the stream they would have been screwed. They'd tried for hours but thankfully the Soverigns had come to investigate the unusual data stream too and with their help they'd been able to create a stream that would take them to the other dimension. According to Alice's calculations they'd ended up in the dimension's version of the Real World so know they just had to figure out how to get into this dimension's Digital World.  
  
"This dimension doesn't look any different than our real world." Alice said as she looked around. She judged it to be somewhere in the afternoon and to all intents and purposes they could be in Gilmon's park.  
  
"Were should we begin looking?" Renamon said as she too took in their surroundings with a hunter's look that made several of the people walking around give them troubled looks as they hurried by.  
  
  
  
"We should find Ken." Cyberdramon said for the first time since they'd landed. He'd stayed away from the Soverigns cause they'd never really gotten along well and Cyberdramon wasn't exactly known for his good people skills.  
  
"Find who?" Rika asked looking over at him curiously as she tried to ignore the sound of traffic nearby.  
  
"Ken. I believe he lives in this dimension and is a friend of Ryo's. He will be able and willing to help us locate Ryo faster if he values Ryo's friendship as much as Ryo does." Cyberdramon said in the longest sentence that any of the females had ever heard him utter.  
  
"How do we find this Ken?" Alice asked as she opened her computer though how she was going to find him on it she wasn't sure.  
  
"We could look him up in a phone book." Rika said as she glared at some pedestrians who were staring at them. "What are you looking at?" Rika finished with a growl of her own that was similar enough to Cyberdramon's to get them moving in the other direction.  
  
"Your such a people person Rika." Alice said sarcastically as she watched them speed away.  
  
"Yea Yea and your a social animal. Lets find a phone book shall we?" Rika said as she grinned at her friend.  
  
"Lets get something to eat first. I'm starving and the way Cyberdramon is looking at that dog makes me think he's hungry too." Alice said as she held Cyberdramon lease tighter. Since Ryo wasn't here it had kind of fallen on her to fill in temporarily and even though she'd always wanted a Digimon of her own she wasn't overjoyed at the thought of having Cyberdramon fill the role.  
  
"Yea, why don't you guys stay here and I'll see what I can find. There's no point in scaring everything that could provide food away." Rika said with a twisted grin.  
  
"Fine but your buying if I have to stay and baby-sit these two." Alice said with a grin of her own.  
  
"It's a deal."  
  
  
  
  
  
"Come on Buddy, you can do it, just try." The boy said as he cheered his Digimon on as the Digimon tried not to think of how many he'd eaten already. "Your almost there just two more and then were done."  
  
Rika watched the two in disgust, what a pathetic Tamer, and all around human being. "People like that shouldn't even have Digimon." Rika muttered under her breath as she waited in the long line to get some grub. What kind of Tamer tries to get his Digimon to eat as many hotdogs as possible in one hour? How gross.  
  
"Come on Veemon, you can do it." The boy yelled as he watched his Digimon swallow another one whole, looking a bit green as oppose to his usual blue. "Two more."  
  
"Come on Davis I don't want to eat anymore." The Digimon said looking more then a little green to Rika. That was it, she wasn't going to stand here and watch that poor Digimon be tortured like that. Goggle boy was going down.  
  
"Come on Buddy, you can do it. I bet Kage ten bucks you could and you don't wanna lose do ya." Davis said motioning in the direction of another boy who was watching them with a smirk on his face as he thought of the easy ten he'd just made. The thing couldn't possible eat another one.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Hey what kind of Tamer are you any way kid." Rika said having heard enough as she moved out of the line to stand in front of the kid she was seriously considering pummeling into the dirt.  
  
"What do you mean Tamer? And the names Davis" The goggle headed Davis asked curiously as he admired the red head in front of him, even if she did look like she wanted to rearrange his face.  
  
" I mean that a Digimon isn't some toy to play with. He's a living breathing thing and you shouldn't be treating him like some circus act." Rika said glaring at him with a look that had sent more men running away from her then she'd won card games.  
  
"I don't treat him like that." Davis said angrily back at her.  
  
"Oh really well from where I'm standing you are. You need to get someone to teach you how to take care of your Digimon before he ends up in the hospital." Rika said with her hands on her hips, letting him know she meant business.  
  
"And what do you know about Digimon Red?" Davis shot back with more anger then he'd intended. Who did this girl think she was anyway telling him what to do? Veemon was his best friend, how dare she accuse him of being a bad friend.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Obviously a hell of a lot more then you." Rika said with a sneer as she glared at him even more while keeping an eye on the kid's Digimon who looked like he was going to throw up at any moment.  
  
"Well if your so great where's your Digimon?" Kage said as he moved to support his friend, more because she was interupting the bet then anything else.  
  
"She's waiting for me to bring lunch." Rika said with a smirk.  
  
"Well then what do you say you bring her over and you two can battle. Then well see who knows more about Digimon." Kage said with a smirk.  
  
Panicking Davis stared at the girl and cursed Kage's big mouth.  
  
"And how do you propose we do that huh. I'm not in the habit of murdering Digimon simple to show that their trainers are morons." Rika said glaring at the blue haired boy in contempt.  
  
"We don't want to fight." Veemon blurted out. Something was telling him that he didn't want to face this girl's Digimon, especially after eating ten hotdogs.  
  
"Yea, we don't fight girls." Davis said to save face in front of the rising crowd.  
  
"Why because you're so pathetic you can't beat them?" Rika asked with a terrifying grin.  
  
"We could take you on anytime, anywhere." Davis said puffing out his chest.  
  
"Fine then. First one to knock the other out wins. Any signs of deletion and the match is off." Rika said with a glare. "And whoever wins buys the other lunch."  
  
Davis stared at the girl. He could take her no problem, right? He'd never really battled for the sport of it but everyone was looking at him. Besides, what could it hurt? They'd go easy on her and when they'd won he'd prove to her that he was a good Tamer.  
  
"Alright, you're on." Davis said as he pulled out his Digivice. "Let's battle."  
  
"Fine then. Renamon." Rika called and everyone watched in amazement as seconds later a Digimon appeared out of nowhere right in front of them. "The little blue Digimon is going down."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!"  
  
Alice and Cyberdramon both turned their heads quickly as the scream blasted their eardrums, what a racket.  
  
"What's that all about?" Alice said as she shaded her eyes with her hands. Squinting she could make out a boy running in her direction with a small grey blob in his hands which was moving which would suggest it was alive.  
  
"Pepper blast." A voice came out of no where and Alice watched in horror as a ball of fire went flying inches from the boy's head. The boy fell to the ground, blob still in his arms though she heard it shriek even from a distance.  
  
"Hey kid are you alright?" Alice called running towards the boy who lay frozen in fear.  
  
Alice looked and saw a teenager and an Agumon heading for the kid. Sensing that the Pepper Breath hadn't been an accident Alice stood in front of the boy and completely forgetting Cyberdramon prepared to give the guy the tongue lashing of his life.  
  
"Who are you?" The boy asked clutching what now appeared to be a Digimon though what kind of she had no idea.  
  
"My name's Alice. Why'd he attack you." Alice said as she watched the teenage boy and his Digimon strut in their direction.  
  
"He wants my new video game. My brother gave it to for my birthday and I'm..I'm not giving it to him." The kid said with a glare in the teen's direction. For some reason the kid felt safe with this girl, even if she did look like she was gothic.  
  
"Hey kid, hiding behind girls now. Hey sweetheart mind moving out of the way. The brainiac and I have some unfinished business to attend to." The teen said with a leer. "Afterwards maybe me and you could get a soda or something. How about it babe?"  
  
"How about you and your Digimon beat it before I flatten you like a bug." Alice said putting her hands on her hips.  
  
"Well temper, temper, look kid just hand it over and no one gets hurt." The teen said now including Alice in his glares. Of course Alice glared right back. Maybe she didn't have a Digimon of her own but she wasn't about to let this guy get his way. Not while she was around.  
  
"Look pal you're the one who's going to get hurt if you don't go away." Alice shot back.  
  
"Well then if your so tough why don't you try this on for size, Agumon, Pepper Breath." The boy yelled and Alice watched as a huge ball of fire appeared in the dinosaur like Digimon's mouth and then shot out of its mouth at her with deadly intent.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wow." Davis said as he looked at Veemon's opponent. "She's huge. No fair, she has to Digivolve down to rookie level first."  
  
"This is her rookie form." Rika said with an evil grin as she placed a hand on her belt where she kept her cards.  
  
"Oh shoot." Davis said under his breath as all the blood left his head. He and Veemon were definitely dead meat.  
  
"Davis, hey Davis have you seen Mikey? We can't find him." Everyone turned to see a cute brunette followed by a good-looking blonde male, both looking to be around Rika's age. The girl was dressed in pink and the boy in blue, Mr and Mrs All America Rika thought with a smirk.  
  
"He's missing?" Veemon said finally taking his eyes off the fox type Digimon that he decided to call his executor.  
  
"Yea, what's going on Davis?" The blonde hair boy asked not liking the looks of this. He didn't like Kage very much and something told him that there was trouble here.  
  
"Davis is getting a lesson." Rika said as she finished filling Renamon in on the situation. "We're ready when you are shortie."  
  
"Davis what's she talking about?" The brown haired girl asked looking rather worried, Veemon didn't look so good and she had a feeling that the other girl was after Davis about something. "What have you done now?"  
  
"He's challenged me to a Digimon battle. If your fond of the little blue guy I suggest you say your good byes now." Rika said as she sorted through her cards absently as she waited for the other boy to crack. She wouldn't need them with this loser but it never hurt to be prepared.  
  
"You challenged her to a Digimon battle, against that fox with her, are you out of YOUR MIND! The blonde said looking from the Digimon fox that was as big as him to Veemon. "She'll kill him."  
  
"Actually I only intend to toss him around a bit. I don't delete Digimon for the fun of it and besides even if I did his data would be to contaminated to absorb anyway." Rika said as she smiled at the boy with some sense which seemed to be lacking in this world.  
  
"Who are you anyway?" The brunette asked as she picked Veemon up in her arms to hold him protectively. If this girl thought her Digimon was laying a paw on poor Veemon then she was mistake. She wouldn'y let anyone hurt him and neither would T.K.  
  
"My name's Rika and this is Renamon." Rika said with her arms crossed. "So are we battling or not?"  
  
"Look I.."  
  
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"What the heck?" Davis said as his head whipped around at the noise.  
  
"Oh no." Rika cried.  
  
"Cyberdramon!" Rika and Renamon shouted together before they took off running in the direction of the screams with her would-be opponent and his friends close behind.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Cyberdramon." Alice had yelled as she'd watched the flaming ball hurl towards her, nowing that there was no way she'd be able to move out of the way in time. And she'd got what she deserved for calling him Alice thought as she tried to stop Cyberdramon from sending Agumon and his trainer blasting out of the park. Digging her heels in Alice kept a firm grip on Cyberdramon's arm as he dragged her towards where the Digimon and his Tamer were cowering in fear. Cyberdramon had reached her side while she'd been trying to get a look at how badly hurt her shoulder was from the flame when she'd ducked. He'd taken one look and charged.  
  
"Cyberdramon you can't delete him and if you intend to think again. He's only a pathetic little Agumon, he's not even worth the energy." Alice said as she tried to ignore her arm, which stung from the Pepper breath blast and hurt even more from trying to yank Cyberdramon back.  
  
"He hurt you." Cyberdramon growled as he continued towards his opponents. She may not have been his Tamer but she was Ryo's friend and that meant that she was under his protection. The Augumon was a dead dinosaur.  
  
  
  
"Alice what happened?" Alice sighed with relief as she saw Rika and Renamon running towards her with three other kids about their age with another Digimon taking up the rear.  
  
"The Agumon attacked us and now Cyberdramon's on the war path with the intent to decimate." Alice said gesturing towards the kid with one hand while trying to keep Cyberdromon under control with the other.  
  
"Mikey!" The three other kids and what looked like a blue Digimon yelled out as they ran to the kid who practically hurled himself at them with his Digimon clutched closely to his chest.  
  
"Cyberdramon stop this instance." Rika said marching up to stare into his black eyes which regard her with flames practically shooting out of them.  
  
"Yea do as she says." The cowering Agumon yelled from behind a large oak tree which only served to make Cyberdramon more intent on killing it.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Owww." Alice said as Cyberdramon came to a halt in front of Rika when she refused to move. "Damn, thanks."  
  
"Are you okay Alice?" Rika asked looking around Cyberdramon in her direction, worried that Cyberdramon had hurt her in her haste to slow Cyberdramon down.  
  
"The stupid dinosaur burned my arm a little bit." Alice admitted as she let go of Cyberdramon, it hadn't been working anyway and it made her arm hurt worse.  
  
Now Rika was really mad. "Alice give me Ryo's Digivice and cards for a sec please." Rika said as she glared at the boy and Digimon who'd dare hurt her friend and a little boy. Taking a card out of Ryo's deck Rika held it out and slashed it across the side of his Digivice. "Digimodify, Digi card activation. Goliath Digieveloution."  
  
Instantly Cyberdramon began to grow until he was literally the size of a house. Growling menacingly Cyberdramon slowly walked towards the bullies.  
  
"Get it away from me man!" The bully cried looking absolutely terrified. "We'll leave the kid alone OKAY!!!"  
  
"You should have thought of that before you attacked a little kid and my friend." Rika said as she glared at him as he cowered.  
  
"Thank God I didn't battle her." Davis said as he gazed up at the huge Digimon who was currently licking his lips in the bullies direction.  
  
"Cyberdramon, I think these boys need a lesson in what happens to people who pick on little kids and hurt our friends. You know that tree over there is pretty bare, what do you say we decorate in." Rika said with an evil grin.  
  
"Rikaaaa." Alice said exaggeratedly.  
  
"As you wish." Cyberdramon said leaning over and scooped the terrified bullies into his clawed hands. Moving over to the tree Rika had indicated the huge Digimon set the two on top of the tree, high above the ground and telephone poles.  
  
"That otta teach them. Cyberdramon, de-digievolute." Rika said and as she watched the Digimon returned to his normal size.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Wow that was amazing." The kid, Mickey said as he hesitantly approached the girl who had helped save him and George. She looked friendly then the Goth but he had a feeling that this girl was just as tough as the other one.  
  
Sending him a warm smile Rika turned back to Alice. "Do you need a doctor?"  
  
"No I don't think its that bad. I take it you didn't find anything to eat?"  
  
"Yea there's a hot dog stand over there and after I beat goggle head wannabe over there he'll buy us all the dogs we can eat." Rika said motioning her thumb in Davis's direction.  
  
"Look I'm sure Davis deserves to get his butt kicked by you but if it's about the hot dogs I'll pay for them." The blonde boy said as he shook his head at Davis's stupidity. Only a fool challenged someone this skilled and ruthless.  
  
"We can buy our own food thanks." Rika shot back. "Get your friend's Digimon a new owner and I'll be more then satisfied."  
  
"But I want to stay with Davis." Veemon said moving out from behind Davis.  
  
"So in other words you like how he treats you?" Rika said in disbelief.  
  
"I like Davis and I don't want anyone else. Sure he doesn't always think before he does something but he's really nice once you get to know him."  
  
  
  
"Whatever. This place is crawling with Digimon so I don't think we'll have any trouble moving around here Alice. I'll keep Renamon with me and get those hot dogs, hopefully the line will have gone down. Cyberdramon, you stay here and protect Alice, so far you've done a great job at it." Rika said as she shook her head at the Digimon's decision to stay with goggles. Well it wasn't the first brain dead Digimon she'd met.  
  
"Well then I guess we otta be going now too since there isn't going be any fighting." The brunette said motioning to her friends, especially Davis that it was time to leave. The redhead's mind was elsewhere so now would be a good time to go.  
  
"Well then I guess I'll see ya later kid." Alice said with a wink at Mickey who'd been gapping at Cyberdramon the entire time. Wow now there was a Digimon.  
  
"Ya see ya." Mickey said as he allowed the brunette to drag him away, Kari knew best after all. "Ohh and thanks for your help and I hope your arms okay."  
  
Nodding Alice watched the four people quickly walk away then turned back to Rika. "What was that all about?"  
  
  
  
  
  
"So Ken you got a girlfriend?" Ryo asked catching up with his friend as they lay in their sleeping bags. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other and they had a lot to catch up on.  
  
"Kinda. I've been dating a girl on and off for a while." Ken said blushing slightly.  
  
"Her name's Yolei and she's really pretty." Wormon supplied from his blanket where he'd been napping. They'd bedded down for the night but the boys hadn't been sleepy.  
  
"What about you Izzy?" Ryo asked already having developed a liking for the computer wiz who appeared to be responsible for getting him here. He reminded him of Alice and Henry in some ways.  
  
"Nah." Izzy said putting his laptop into his backpack as he decided to close up for the night. He wasn't what you'd call a ladies man and it was a good thing it was dark or they'd realize he was really blushing.  
  
"I take it your involved with this Rika that little monster mentioned?" Ken said with a grin as he thought of all the trouble the little Digimon had been giving his friend since they'd arrived.  
  
"Well I was but how I'm going to explain this I have no idea." Ryo said grinning at the thought of his girlfriend who was probably even now plotting his death for standing him up. "I can tell you she's not going to be happy about this."  
  
"She's going to dump you flat on your asse. She won't give you the time of a day after this pretty boy. You are royally screwed now!" Impmon said from a rock nearby where he'd been listening in on the boys.  
  
"You wish." Ryo shot back as he rolled his eyes, reminding himself that Rika would be upset if he didn't bring back the idiot in one piece. He'd have prefered to bring Impmon back in a bunch of pieces, or not at all. "You're forgetting that Cyberdramon wasn't taken in the stream baka. He'll tell Rika what happened and she'll understand about the date. There's no way she can blame me for this." He added confidently, or at least he hoped.  
  
  
  
"Ha he's your Digimon, Rika won't believe him." Impmon said with a sneer as he hoped that he was right. Even the computer geek would be better for Rika then Pretty boy.  
  
"Oh stick a sock in it you empty headed Digimon from Hell." Ryo said with a rolling of his eyes. "The pain over there's really protective of Rika and is a of the opinion that I'm not good enough for her. And of course there is the small fact that she disagrees with him." Ryo said to explain their constant fighting.  
  
"So does she have a Digimon, your girlfriend I mean?" Izzy asked curiously.  
  
"Yea she has a Renamon. Trust me you don't ever want to get her on her bad side." Ryo said with a smirk.  
  
"Don't tell me the macho hunk Ryo Digimon King is afraid of little Old Renamon?" Impmon said nastily.  
  
"Tell me Impmon, how many times did Renamon wipe the floor with you before Rika called her off?" Ryo asked just as nastily.  
  
"Shut up Ryo!" Impmon said with a threatening look.  
  
"That's what I thought." Ryo said with a winning grin.  
  
Well that's it for now, stay tuned for the following adventures of the Tamers. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing and keep it up. 


	3. Will You Take Us

Note: As always I own nothing but the plot and thanks to all who've been reviewing my work and taking the time to let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy this latest chap but I wanted to update and I haven't decided what should happen next. Appreciate feedback and hope you'll review. Thanks.  
  
Would You Take Us There?  
  
"So this is it?" Rika asked as she looked at the door in front of them.  
  
"If this information is correct then were at the right place." Alice said as she read over the instructions they'd gotten from the phonebook. "Well there's only one way to find out." Raising her hand she pushed the button and stepped back. Standing side by side the girls waited and seconds later were rewarded with the door opening.  
  
"Can I help you two?" A woman asked from the doorway.  
  
"Yes, were looking for Ken, is he home right now? We really need to speak with him." Rika said with her best smile.  
  
"I'm sorry but Ken's gone away on a trip with some of his friends." The woman said with a slight shrug. "He won't be back for a while. Is there anything I can do?"  
  
"Do you know how we could contact him?" Alice asked with a similar smile. "Does he have a cell phone or his computer?"  
  
"I'm afraid I don't. But you could try his girlfriend Yolie, she might know how to get a hold of him or she could pass along your message." Ken's mother said with a hopeful smile.  
  
"Where would we find her?" Alice said pulling out a pen, holding it ready above the paper. Ken's mother gave them the information and with thanks they headed for Yolie's address.  
  
  
  
  
  
"What can I do for you?" Cody asked as he looked at the two girls and the Digimons standing at the front door.  
  
"Were looking for a girl named Yolie, is she here?" Rika asked as she smiled sweetly at him. She'd act all sweet and nice for the rest of the year if that's what it took to get Ryo back.  
  
"Yea she's downstairs, who should I say is looking for her?" Cody asked starting to blush. Both girls were really beautiful and the way the red head was smiling at him was making him a little hot around the collar.  
  
"She doesn't know us, we're friends of a friend. Were trying to get in contact with her boyfriend and were hoping she can help us." Alice said with a wink, finally succeeding in turning Cody a bright red.  
  
"Hey Cody, whose at the door Tai asked as he stuck his head through the door and just barely held back the wolf whistle. Hubba hubba thank you God Tai thought as he pasted his most charming smile on. "Hello."  
  
"Hi." Rika said Alice said back while Renamon and Cyberdramon remained silently though they acknowledged the greeting with nods.  
  
"I'll go and get her." Cody said knowing he didn't stand a chance with Tai there. He attracted girls nearly as well as Matt and their was no point in him hanging around. Knowing Tai would be happy to watch them Cody made his departure to get Yolie.  
  
"So you friends of Yolie?" Tai asked grinning at them as he leaned against the door. "Maybe she's mentioned you." Like whether you're available or not Tai added silently.  
  
"No we've never met. We just need some information we're hoping she can provide." Alice said as she smoothed her skirt down. "Are you related to her?"  
  
"Naw just friends." Tai said deliberately putting emphasis on his words so that they'd know he was available.  
  
"She says to come right down. She's in the middle of a video game match with Gatomon and they're out for blood." Cody said as he reappeared in the doorway. "If you'll follow me."  
  
"Renamon, you watch over Cyber?" Rika asked thinking that they weren't going to get on this girl's good side if they let the large Digimon loose in her house.  
  
"Understood." Renamon said motioning Cyberdramon to follow her and Rika and Alice watched the two Digimon until they were out of sight before following Cody and Tai into the house.  
  
  
  
"Here they are Yolie." Cody said motioning towards them and then to the girl sitting on the floor furiously pushing buttons as she stared at he screen.  
  
"I'll be right there Cody, you two can have a seat." Yolie said not taking her eyes off of the screen where two figures were busy shooting each other. Looking at the girl Rika sized her up then looked down at the Digimon beside the girl who rather resembled a cat with weird gloves that resembled something her mother would wear. There were two other Digimon in the room; one that resembled an armadillo and the other a messed up hawk dressed like an Indian.  
  
Sitting down Rika and Alice remained silent as the two played until finally fifteen minutes later the cat succeeded in blasting the girl's character to smithereens. Slyly grinning the cat did a little mock bowing for the other two Digimon in the room before turning to stare curiously at the strange guest.  
  
"So who are you?" The cat asked walking over so that it was standing at their feet. "I don't think I've seen you before."  
  
"My name's Alice, this is Rika." Alice said motioning to Rika before looking more closely at the Digimon. "Your Gatomon, aren't you?"  
  
"You better believe it." Gatomon said with a twitch of her tail.  
  
"I'm Yolie if you haven't already figured that out." The purple haired girl said walking over with her hand out stretched. "So what can I do for you?"  
  
"Nice to meet you." Rika said shaking her hand. "We're trying to get in contact with your friend Ken and we're hoping that you can tell us how to get a hold of him."  
  
  
  
"Are you a friend of his?" Yolie asked not exactly thrilled with the idea that these two super model look alikes were looking for her boyfriend. Not thrilled at all.  
  
"Not exactly. Do you know how we can get in touch of him?" Alice asked not wanting to say too much about anything. "We'd really appreciate it if you could help us."  
  
"He's in the Digital World right now, It's hard to stay in contact right know because of some problems that are happening over there. Is it really important?" Yolie asked narrowing her dark eyes slightly. These girls were up to something and her intuition was telling her something was up.  
  
"Is there any way to get to him from this area, a portal maybe?" Alice asked already whipping out her pen and paper. "We'd really appreciate it."  
  
"The Digital World is no place for two girls alone." Tai said coming into the room after grilling Cody on everything he knew about the two lovely ladies.  
  
"Our Digimon will be more then adequate protection and we can both take care of ourselves. Were familiar with the Digital World we have access to where we're from, I'm sure yours isn't much different." Rika said raising an eyebrow and shooting him a look that warned that disagreeing with her wasn't a good idea.  
  
"You have Digimon?" The hawk looking creature asked. Curious Rika pulled out her D-Arc and pointed it at him and then reviewed the stats on the Digimon.  
  
"A Renamon and a Cyberdramon Hawkmon." Rika said as she turned it to the other Digimon who was identified as an Armadillomon. It suited him Rika thought with a smirk as she put the device away. He did look like one after all. Boy had Henry's father and his friends been original when they came up for names for their creations.  
  
"How did you know what kind of Digimon I was?" Hawkmon asked as he looked up at her curiously. "And what's a Cyberdramon, I've never heard of one." he added curious about them and their strange device.  
  
"Cyberdramon was created accidentally and is on of a kind thankfully. And as for how I knew what kind of Digimon you were I've seen Digimon similar to you and this device I have in my pocket identifies Digimon." Rika said smiling at him kindly. "I just had to point it at you to get your name and stats."  
  
"That's really cool, where'd you get it?" Tai asked walking closer so that he could get a better look at the device the beautiful redhead was talking about. "Can I see it Rika?"  
  
"Sure. Just point it at the Digimon of choice and you'll get all the computer's data on the Digimon." Rika said handing it over to him hoping that her willingness to play nice would encourage them to help her find Ryo. "So about the portals?"  
  
"This looks kinda like a Digivice." Tai stated turning it over in his hands carefully as he studied it, taking notice of the differences and similarities. "Does the term Digidestined mean anything to you by any chance?"  
  
Looking at each other Rika and Alice exchanged meaningful glances that showed nothing but told the other everything. They'd decided a head of time that if the name was brought up they'd play dumb. For the time being until it proved to be to their advantage. If these people were aware of the Digidestined then there was a chance that they were somehow connected to Ryo's kidnappers.  
  
  
  
  
  
"No, should it? What's a Digivice?" Alice asked curiously giving Tai her best clueless blonde look that had gotten her out of such sticky situations before. People were so easy to fool when blondes had such stupid reputations. Of course he fell for it, she would have been insulted if he hadn't.  
  
"A Digivice is what allows our Digimon to Digivolve and it also helps us get to the Digital World." Tai said holding the D-Arc towards Gatomon. "This is amazing. Were did you say you got this?"  
  
"It was given to me by a friend. So your Digivices transport you to the Digital World? Can you take extra people with you when you go?" Alice asked already mentally recording this for later. She was always trying to improve their methods for Digital travel and she'd love to get a hold of one of these Digivices.  
  
"Yes we can if we need to. Why is it so important for you to speak with Ken? He owe you two money or something?" Gatomon asked slightly suspicious.  
  
"We need his assistance for something. So will you take us? We can afford to pay you if you can point the way to the nearest pon shop so that we can change some items into cash." Rika asked deliberately being vague as she looked pleadingly up at Tai who she guessed would be the easiest to charm. "We'd be in your debt."  
  
"Sure we could, right guys." Tai said smiling at the girls. "We were planning to go and visit some old friends there anyway."  
  
"But we don't know where they are exactly. It would be close to impossible to find them." Yolie argued glaring at Tai. "You know that."  
  
"You get us there and then leave the rest to us." Rika said with a sly smile. "Like I said before, we can take care of ourselves."  
  
  
  
  
  
"So is there anyway for you to bring Cyberdramon here Izzy. If I'm going to help you fight this Digimon then it would be kinda easier if I had Cyberdramon with me." Ryo said as the three boys walked through the Digital forest with the Digimon close behind.  
  
"We barely managed it the first time Ryo, there's no way of knowing whether or not it would work the next time through. I'm pretty sure that I could get you back though so don't worry about that. It's the getting here that's the problem." Izzy said with a smirk as he watched Tentamon fly by.  
  
"Well then I guess I'll just have to work with what I have." Ryo said not looking forward to it at all. Its too bad that we can't though, I'm sure the other Tamers would be willing to come here to help you guys out too."  
  
"So Tamers is what you call your Digidestined in the dimension you're living in?" Ken asked as he picked up Wormon who's little legs couldn't carry him fast enough.  
  
"Kinda. But its not like it is here. There the Real World can't support the Digimon anymore so they have to remain in the Digital World most of the time. There are only ten people with Digimon that I know of, myself included." Ryo said as he nimbly jumped over a small rock in his way. "It kinda sucks that way."  
  
"You bet it does and it's all thank to Henry's dad and those other crazy friends of his. It was all their fault to begin with too." Impmon said with a huff as he followed Ryo from behind. "The only good thing about it is I don't have to see you often."  
  
"Likewise." Ryo said with a glare. "Anyway My girlfriend and most of my friends are in the group and we have a lot of experience dealing with bad asse digital creations."  
  
"Sounds like an interesting story." Izzy said with a raised eyebrow. "Care to tell it, we've still got a long way to go."  
  
"Well it all began with the Sovereigns and something called the D-Reaper." Ryo began, as he fondly thought back to the adventure though at the time he'd been scared spitless. "I didn't meet up with the zodiacs so I'll have to tell you about them secondhand. You see the Sovereigns sent these creatures that resembled the animals from the Chinese zodiac and they attacked the real world because they blamed us for all their problems." Ryo said with a grin and continued with the tale as they made there way to their destination and perhaps, their destiny. 


	4. Manipulation is the Key

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. This chap is dedicated to JoJo since she requested I update this as part of her prize for winning one of my contests. Thanks to all those who've been reading and I hope that you like this chapter and the ones to follow.  
  
  
  
Manipulation is the Key  
  
  
  
"So what's so important that you need to see Ken for?" Yolei asked suspiciously as they exited her apartment building with Tai, Cody and the Digimon bring up the rear. She didn't want to help these girls find Ken and she didn't trust them as far as she could throw them. Sure the guys like them but that was only because they were beautiful, if they'd been hags the guys would have had no problem seeing things her way.  
  
"That's between the three of us." Alice said as she lifted her hand to block the sun shining in her eyes. "Hey Rika, do you see them?"  
  
"No." Rika said looking around herself for their Digimon. Renamon was very good at concealing herself but she couldn't figure out why they couldn't spot Cyberdramon, he should've been hard not to miss.  
  
"Who are you looking for guys?" Tai said as he too scanned Yolie's neighborhood as traffic whizzed by them at break-necking speed.  
  
"Our Digimon." Rika said as she shaded her eyes as well. "They were told to stay near the building but I don't see them anywhere.  
  
"Why didn't you bring them in with you, its dangerous to leave them out here by themselves, something terrible could happen to them." Yolie said glaring at them for their carelessness.  
  
"Oh you don't have to worry about that Yolie." Tai said picturing the two Digimon. "I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to try and lay a hand on them. Especially Alice's, he strikes me as the bloodthirsty type." he added thinking of the mechanical looking beast.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Renamon, Cyberdramon." Rika called out and felt a shiver run down her spine as she heard someone scream from close by. Turning her head Rika saw a woman looking ready to faint as she stared blindly up into the sky. Looking up too Rika and the rest watched as Cyberdramon flew down while Renamon jumped against two buildings alternately as she made her way down from the roof. "Oh, there they are."  
  
"Wow." Armadillomon said as he admired the fox type jumping towards them with blurring speed. The machine like one landed first with the other Digimon landing at his side seconds later, she wasn't even breathing hard.  
  
"I could do that." Gatomon said with a sniff, as she looked up at the huge Digimon who were regarding herself and the other Digimon with detachment. She'd met her share of Renamons in her life and they tended to be really stuck up and egotistic, just because they tended to be stronger then most Digimon their size.  
  
"Were you successful?" Renamon asked as she ignored the stares that they were getting from the other Digimon and several people who were gapping at them from a safe distance. She and Cyberdramon had gone on the roof because they'd gotten tired of being regarded like sideshows.  
  
"Kinda, these guys are maybe going to transport us to the Digital World." Alice said smiling sweetly at Tai who grinned back at her like the guy he was. "You know maybe we should downsize them a bit, Rika?" Alice added as she realized how much space on the sidewalk the Digimon was taking up.  
  
"Renamon should be okay, but it would be a good idea for Cyberdramon. You have his cards and Arc right?" Rika said as she rolled her eyes at a mother who was looking at Cyberdramon like he was Satan; while her son tried to get closer to him. Both were partly right.  
  
  
  
"Check." Alice said pulling the D-Arc out of her pocket. Taking out Ryo's deck she sorted through the cards until she found the one she wanted. "Cyberdramon, de-digievolution." On cue Cyberdramon began to glow, slowly shrinking till he reverted to a small purplish grey dinosaur that grinned at them nicely.  
  
"Hello there." He said smiling at the other Digidestined who he didn't know yet but seemed nice looking. "I'm Strikemon," he added with a slight bow before looking up to grin at Renamon. "This is Renamon," he said as he pointed up at the other Digimon who was looking down at him with a smirk. "So when are we going to go now or later?"  
  
"We'll be meeting them later after they talk it over." Rika said with a huge smile for Tai and Cody. She knew where the weakest links were in this group and a good player always exploited them. "So we'll be going now and meet them in two hours."  
  
"We should be going, we'll see you guys later." Alice said as she moved away to stand beside Strikemon. Fluttering her eyelashes at the boys in the group Alice inwardly rolled her eyes as the four of them walked off, leaving the Digidestined to stare after them.  
  
  
  
"I'm telling you this girl was repeatedly dropped on her head as a child." Davis continued as he gave a blow by blow of what had happened in the park. I mean me, Veemon and Kage were just standing there, minding their own business when she starts threatening to kill Veemon, for no reason. And I mean she looked meaner then Mummymon on a bad day she was so mean looking. I was like trying to avoid a confrontation but she wouldn't get out of my face!"  
  
"Yea and then her Digimon appeared and it was this huge monster with claws and huge fangs that could have snapped me up with one bite." Veemon added as he made sure Gatomon could hear him from her perch beside Kari.  
  
"They didn't look so dangerous to me." T.K. said with a smirk as he remembered the way the redhead had chewed Davis out. "And I don't think that the girl had any intention of hurting Veemon, just you Davis."  
  
"I'm serious T.K." Davis said with a frown, upset that his friend was trying to make it look like it hadn't been that big of a deal. "That girl was bad news all the way, we should make sure that none of our Digimon run into her again, lord only knows what she might do to them!"  
  
"As I recall she just thought you should stop shoving hotdogs down Veemon's throat." T.K. said as he raised an eyebrow. "And are you sure you didn't say something to make her mad, like hit on her or something? She was really cute."  
  
"Well she wasn't bad looking I guess but what about her friend, the Goth and the Terminator." Davis said with a mock shiver as he pictured the two who they'd met after they'd followed the redhead when she'd gone running off. "There's no way you can convince me that they weren't trouble with a capital T."  
  
"She saved me and George." Mikey pointed out with a childish frown having tagged along with the other Digidestined. He wasn't managing to get any of his emails to his brother Izzy and so he'd written it down for one of the others to deliver for him.  
  
"Who cares." Yolie said as she curbed the urge to stomp her foot. "We met here because we need to decide whether or not we're going to take those girls to the Digital World."  
  
"We already voted Yolie, we're going to take them, you were out voted." Tai pointed out trying to hide a smile. The rest of them agreed that it was the fact that the girls were looking for Ken was the reason why Yolie didn't want them to take them.  
  
"That's only because you told T.K. and Davis how good looking they were, otherwise they would have voted with me and Kari." Yolie said with a death glare.  
  
" Yea well Kari only voted for your side because she didn't want you to feel bad Yolie. And anyway here they are." Tai said as two girls and their Digimon walked into the room with welcoming smiles on their faces.  
  
  
  
"YOU!" Rika practically growled when she caught sight of that Davis kid that she'd met in the park. What was he doing here?  
  
"YOU!" Davis said when he caught sight of the redhead who'd costed him ten bucks earlier that morning. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Tai, Cody, Yolie." Alice said with a huge smile as she placed a calming hand on Rika's shoulder, just in case her friend did what was normal to her and let the goggle head have it in the face. "Have you guys decided yet?"  
  
"Decided what?" Davis said turning around to glare at his friends who'd apparently had betrayed him by knowing the girls who'd caused him so much trouble. "Don't tell me these two are friends of yours."  
  
"I think that they're the girls we just agreed to help." T.K. said with a smile as he tried not to laugh at Advisee's panicky expression. "I don't think we were formally introduced at the park." He added as he walked over with his hand out. "I'm T.K., and you are?"  
  
"Rika." Rika said with a stunning smile as she nodded her head to him with her best impersonation of her mother. "You're the one who talked the child out of battling me at the park. Thanks for that by the way, it wasn't his Digimon's fault he ended up with a preschooler for a trainer."  
  
"Hey!" Davis said as he realized he was the child he was referring to. Charging forward he stopped in his tracks when the girl's digimon moved beside her trainer, looking at him with cool, predator eyes.  
  
"I'm Renamon, a pleasure to meet you T.K." Renamon said as she bowed to the boy with actual manners. So far the people they'd met in this world were not great examples of humanity, it was nice to know there were a few good ones left.  
  
"Nice to meet you too." T.K. said with a smile as he admired the beautiful fox. "This is my Digimon Padmon." He added motioning his Digimon forward who smiled up at her cheerfully.  
  
"Oh he's so cute." Rika said as she got down on one knee to pet the digimon on the head. "He digivolves into Angamon right? He's one of my favorites."  
  
"Yea." Padmon said blushing red at the attention. "This is Gatomon and Augumon, you've met the rest right?" he added as he pointed to the other two digimon.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You transform into Angawomon." Alice said looking at the cat with the ring around its tail, a very cat like expression on its face. "Does she belong to you too?" She asked smiling at T.K. as well.  
  
"No, she belongs to me." Kari said stepping forward, Rika and Alice recognizing her as the one who'd been with T.K. at the park. "I'm Kari, nice to meet you."  
  
"Oh so you two are a couple and your Digimon are, how cute." Rika said with a warm smile thinking that after this she was never smiling ever again. "You're the brunette that was with T.K. in the park right?"  
  
"Yea but we're not a couple and neither are our Digimon." Kari said with a blush spreading across her face and T.K.'s. Gatomon just rolled her eyes since it was obvious that they were to everyone but them. Padamon just blushed too at the thought of being mistaken for Gatomon's boyfriend.  
  
"Yea, they're not going out, ever." Davis said a bit louder then was needed. Kari was his and not T.K.'s, that was final.  
  
"They will be eventually." Yolie said with a smirk, the closest she'd come to a smile since they'd gotten here. "Anyway we took a vote and we'll take you but we can monitor the Digital World you know. You cause any harm or trouble and you'll be out so fast your head will spin."  
  
"Deal." Rika and Alice said nearly together. "And don't worry, we won't cause any problems over there, we'll be as good as gold." Alice added sweetly.  
  
"Promise." Rika chimes in.  
  
  
  
"Well then lets go." Tai said pulling out his Digivice from his pocket. "Rika, you hold on to my hand and your Digimon's arm." Nodding Rika and Renamon stepped forward, Rika taking his hand with a smile while holding onto Alice with the other hand.  
  
"You can take my hand Alice." Mikey said holding out his small hand with his Digivice in the other. Smiling at the kid Alice took the young boys hand and Strikmon's with the other.  
  
"All right then," Yolie said with a sigh. "Digi port open." She said as she pointed her Digivice at a nearby computer. Instantly a beam of light shot out of the computer's screen and they were off.  
  
  
  
"Well here we are." Tai said as Rika slipped her hand out of his as she moved to look around at the area around them. "What do you think?"  
  
"It resembles our own in a lot of ways." Rika said as she watched Renamon move away from here to survey the area with eyes that saw all in mere seconds. They'd landed near a former campsite and Yolie had said she'd take them to the boys' last known campsite. "Renamon?"  
  
"I don't see anyone nearby, but they've had time to travel." Renamon said as she looked around with carefully. "We should go and use what light there is left in the day."  
  
"Well thanks for your help getting us here." Alice said smiling one last time as she drew out Ryo's cards so that she could review them on the way. "I hope we met again someday."  
  
"You're not going anywhere without us." Yolie said raising an eyebrow. "Did we forget to mention that little detail?"  
  
"It's really important that we find him as soon as possible, you'd only slow us done." Rika said and Tai raised an eyebrow at her tone. She'd been really friendly before but know there was more then a hint of ice in her voice.  
  
"Its too dangerous out here for you two to be out here by yourselves, at least let us walk with you until its dark." Tai said with a charming smile that was wasted on the girls who know regarded him with detached interest.  
  
"Tell you guys what." Rika said with her infamous Ice Queen smile. "You can come with us, if you can keep up. Renamon, digi-evolution." She called out as she drew a card from her deck and ran it through her D-Arc. Instantly Renamon was surrounding by light and the Digidestined watched in amazement as Renamon began to change before them, growing multiple tails and a strange looking collar.  
  
Renamon digivolves to Kyubimon  
  
  
  
"Wow." Mikey said as he stared at Renamon's evolution. Now on all four feet Renamon looked nearly twice her former size and a lot more dangerous. She looked like a cross between a wolf and a fox now with a messed up candy cane around her neck. "Awesome."  
  
"How'd she do that?" Yolie demanded as she stared the transformed digimon, what was the device that Rika had that could not only tell her the digimon's stats but also make them evolve in the blink of an eye.  
  
"Cool." T.K. said with a grin as he watched Kyubimon watch them. "How did you do that, Rika? Can your digimon do that too, Alice?"  
  
"You bet T.K. Let's go." Rika said jumping onto Kyubimon's back with a grace that said she'd done this before. Holding her hands out she took Strikemon from Alice and set him on her lap. Holding her hand out again she helped Alice slide on before turning her head to look at the Digidestined again. "Like I said, if you can catch us. Speed card activation." And like that they were off at a speed that was a blur to the naked eye.  
  
"Wow." Tai said echoing Mikey's thoughts. "How are we going to catch up with them?" he added as he tried to close his jaw. How had she done that? All she'd had to do was run a card through that device of hers and her Digimon had evolved on command, just like that.  
  
Holding out her own Digivice Yolie shook her head at them. "Hello, we have digimon that can evolve too ya know."  
  
"Well then lets do it." T.K. said pulling out his own device and soon the Digidestined and their Digimon were on their way to catching up.  
  
  
  
"So do the rest of your friends know about Aracnamon? I would have thought they'd be here to help you fight it?" Ryo said as they stopped for a water break.  
  
"Well you see we didn't know that it was Aracnamon and its minions that were causing the problems." Izzy said sitting down on a rock nearby as the sun beat down on them. "We knew something was wrong but nothing major happened until about two weeks ago. As to friends well most of the original Digidestined are in America right now visiting Mimi who's another destined. Tai and I are the only ones here and were suppose to be going in about a week to join them. We could cal them in but we don't want to unless it's a last resort. As for Ken's generation well we didn't want to bring them in unless it's necessary as well. We only brought you here because Ken thought we could use your take on the situation."  
  
"Well then why'd I get stuck coming?" Impmon said with a grumble as he leaned against a nearby tree. They'd been in the forest walking all day and he was getting tired of it real quick.  
  
"You weren't suppose to come, Cyberdramon was." Ryo said as he reluctant held out his water bottle to the Digimon. Personally he didn't care if the thing collapsed from dehydration but Rika would and he was already probably in her bad books if Cyberdramon hadn't managed to get to her to tell her what had happened. "Drink some of this or you'll get dehydrated and pass out."  
  
"And why would you give me any of your water?" Impmon demanded as he tried to ignore how good some water would go down at the moment. He'd been at his worst all day, why would the kid be nice to him unless he had something up his sleeve.  
  
"Because if you do pass out then I'd have to carry you because Rika would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you." Ryo said with a suffered look. "So take some before I remind myself that you can't annoy me if you're dead."  
  
"Whatever." Impmon said snatching the water from him. Chugging it down he licked his lips then reluctantly handed the water bottle back to him. "Thanks." He bit off before turning his head to look anywhere but at Ryo.  
  
  
  
  
  
"You welcome." Ryo said exchanging an amused look with Ken who was pouring some water into a small bowl for Wormon and Tentamon to drink from. Both Digimon chimed their thanks and began to drink while the three boys and Impmon watched on.  
  
"Your girlfriend won't really dump you because of this would she?" Ken asked taking a seat beside Ryo.  
  
"Hope not." Ryo said with a grin. "It took me years to make friends with her much less go out with me but there's no way she can blame this on me so I'll be fine. She'll only be really mad if I don't come back soon."  
  
"Well hopefully that'll be soon." Izzy said with a smile as he shut his laptop that he'd pulled from his backpack. "I couldn't get through, I hope they aren't too worried."  
  
"I'm sure they're fine." Ken said as he moved to pour more water into the bowl, which disappeared as quickly as it was poured. "We probably should keep moving, we've pin pointed where a lot of the electrical distortions are coming from and we figure that that's where to look for it."  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Ryo agreed with a nod. "Let's go."  
  
  
  
Well I think I'll start updating this fic more often then I did as long as people keep reading since I've had so many good reviews. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing and I hope you'll do it again and keep reading. 


	5. In the Darkness

Disclaimer: I won nothing but my originally characters, the rest belong to their respective companies and artists.  
  
In the Darkness  
  
"So how far away do you think they are guys, are we close?" Alice said looking from Kyubimon to Cyberdramon. They had been riding on Kyubimon's back for hours now and they'd finally stopped to take a water break and fill up their canteens. According to their watches and their digimon the sun would be going down soon making it a bad idea to travel but unfortunately they hadn't found anything that would make a good shelter so far and they knew it was essential that they find one soon. "I don't know, the scent is faint which would suggest they were here a while ago. They made no attempt to hide their route or cover their tracks, we will find them eventually." Kyubimon said in the usual deep voice as she lifted her head to breathe in the coming night air. She had been tempted to get on her knees and thank the gods when they'd caught sight of the river, carrying the two girls and their bags had not been easy after doing it for several hours. "They continue to follow." Cyberdramon growled as he finished getting a drink as well. He was use to these kind of conditions and was rather impressed by the fox and her endurance. Those children that had brought them here, they continued to try and follow them despite his group's obvious superiority which had also surprised him, he had thought they would have given up after the first hour. "Let them, they'll give up soon enough and if they cause problems we'll simply scare them away no problem." Rika said as she screwed the lid on her canteen back on, glad to have the chance to refill. "I would imagine the kid Davis is complaining his head off right now, plus they got Mikey to worry about." "True," Alice agreed as she swung her arms back and forth to stretch them out, reminded of why she'd never loved camping that much. "The sun's getting lower." She added as she looked into the sky that was becoming many different colours as oppose to simply blue. "We need to find some kind of shelter soon." "Then we'd better get going, I'll take the bags for now." Cyberdramon said as he picked up the bags that the girls had set down neat the river so that they would be in arms reach if necessary. "Thanks, Cy." Alice said in surprise, she would have never figured him to volunteer to do anything that wouldn't end in bloodshed and chaos. Who knew he was capable of doing something nice for someone else? "Thank you, Cyberdramon." Kyubimon said, bowing her head slightly in his direction, not wanting him to know how grateful she was that he had made the offer. "I'll be able to go faster without the added weight of the bags." "Yeah, thanks." Rika said with a nod. "It's nothing." Cyberdramon said with a threatening look, daring them to say otherwise. He didn't want them to thank him, especially Kyubimon. He was simply doing it to get to Ken faster; he cared nothing for Kyubimon's well being. "Whatever." Alice said seeing that he didn't appreciate the thanks. "Let's get going then." And off they went in a cloud of dust, with the Digidestined still trailing behind them.  
  
Elsewhere in the Digital World  
  
"So you have no idea what Aracnamon is up to besides destroying things and generally causing more destruction then ten Cyerdramons playing football?" Ryo asked as they walked through the forest, as they'd been doing all day. The sun was getting ready to set and they were looking for a place to bed down for the night. "No idea, we didn't even know it existed up until a little over a week ago." Izzy said with a shrug, as unhappy about the fact as Ryo. It was always difficult to beat an opponent you couldn't understand or anticipate/ "The only reason why we got you here so easily was because Ken told me about the different layers of the real world and I was experimenting with the idea of visiting them. I had everything in my laptop, otherwise you wouldn't be here at all." "So it's just the three of us, huh?" Ryo said not really liking the odds at all. Aracnamon sounded nearly as dangerous or more dangerous then the D- Reaper and that had taken himself and all his friends to defeat, nearly dying in the process. "If he's as tough as you think he is then you should call your friends in, vacation or not." "We would if we could, now." Izzy said with a sigh as he tried not to think of the blasting they were going to get for not alerting the other guys sooner. "When we originally stumbled upon the devastation in one of the systems we thought it was just some rogue digimon causing problems. By the time we found out what we were up against it was too late, none of our e- mails can get to the real world. Right now we're in a section of the Digital World which hasn't been obviously effected by Aracnamon but whatever he's doing is affecting here as well." "I'm going to die." Impmon said loudly from beside Ryo who'd been doing his best to ignore the annoying digimon. "I'm going to die and it's all your fault, Ryo. But at least I can get deleted knowing that Rika will delete you if you live to get back to our real world." He added as he deliberately kicked a stone at Ryo. "And she won't make it a quick one either." Holding in several imaginative phrases and four letter words Ryo ignored the sting of where the stone had hit, refusing to give the little bastard the pleasure of knowing he was getting to him. "The only one she'll be deleting is you if I tell her how you behaved. And even if she doesn't because she's got a blind spot when it comes to you Cyberdramon doesn't have that problem and you'd make him a lovely snack." "So tell me about your friends and their digimon, do they all evolve their partners with cards like you?" Ken asked to avoid conflict. Besides, Ryo's cards interested him. "Yeah, we all use cards." Ryo said as he kept Impmon in view in case the little pain decided to try something like trip him. "Our unspoken leader's probably Takato, aka the Gogglehead. His digimon's name is Gilmon, think a hyper five-year-old for personality in a dinosaur's body. My friend Henry's got a digimon that looks like a white rabbit; a Terriermon who's really mouthy but kinda grows on you after a while, once you get us to all his Momentia's which is his favourite phrase. Henry's little sister Suzy has a Lopmon, just like a Terriermon only a different colour and much more loveable. Think a cuddly brown and pink bunny rabbit and that's Lopmon. Then there's the poor twins who have this little disgrace for a partner, we all feel sorry for them." "Shut up, Pretty Boy." Impmon said as he stuck out his tongue at Ryo, pissed off at Ryo and the world in general. "You leave Mako and Ai out of this if you wanna stay in one piece." "Then there's my girlfriend Rika, she has a Renamon who eats pathetic little digimon like Impmon here for breakfast. She and Rika are a lot a like in that aspect." Ryo continued with a fond smirk. "Rika would have Aracnamon running like a chicken with its head cut off." "Don't forget your eternal slaves Dumb and Dumber." Impmon chimed in sarcastically. When he got back he was going to repeat every part of this conversation to Rika and then they'd see who was laughing. "Dumb and Dumber?" Izzy asked with a smirk, thinking that these two made quite a pair and that it was a good thing they weren't partners. "Kazu and Kenta, they're kinda fans of mine because they're afraid of Rika and see me as their only real defence. Kazu has a Guardramon and Kenta has Marinangamon, they're not as bad as Impmon thinks, just slightly obsessed." Ryo said with a smirk. "And then there's Jeri and Alice to complete the group. Jeri's digimon is Calumon, a digimon that you'll never forget even if you meet hundreds of digital monsters. He's smaller then Impmon but he keeps going and going like the energizer bunny and will eat anything, especially if it contains sugar. Jeri's partner was originally a Leomon but he was killed in battle." Ryo said, leaving out who had killed him. "When we were finally able to get back to the Digital World after D-Reaper we found out that Jeri had become connected to Calumon during the Reaper incident and that her D-Arc worked for him too. As for Alice well she doesn't have a digimon but she basically helps us with ours and creates cards to help improve our digimon as well as the Digital World. She kind of had a partner in a digimon called Dobermon but he was only created to help our digimon be able to go onto another level, after that he deleted. You know you two would have a lot in common, Izzy. Alice is really into computers too." "She's psycho." Impmon said thinking the word summed her up very well. "She's a Gothic freak who all the guys are afraid of. She should date your digimon, Ryo, they have a so much in common." "You say that because you're afraid of her, you baka." Ryo said glaring at him for the comment. "And I don't think Rika would take kindly to you talking about her friend that way. And for the record she's not psycho, she's just not a people person. And she's not a Gothic, she just likes black okay?" "Sounds like an old friend of mine." Izzy said with a smile as he remembered the good old days when he and Black Angel were still friends. "She had a real thing for the colour black, she use to say she'd get married in black if her father would let her." "Have I met her?" Ken asked as he raised an eyebrow at the comment. Izzy looked as though he had very fond memories of this girl but as far as Ken knew Izzy wasn't one to date or show much interest in the opposite sex, this was a change. "No, I only talked to her online." Izzy said with a sigh as he remembered how that relationship had ended. "We'd arranged to meet once but she never showed up. She stopped e-mailing and chatting with me after that, guess she changed her mind." Izzy sighed and wondered again for the thousandth time why she had never shown up to meet him. He had a feeling maybe it was because of his looks, he was more brain then brawn but he had thought that wouldn't matter to her. He guessed he'd never know for sure. "Well if it weren't for the fact that it would never work given where you live I'd give you Alice's e-mail address, you two would get along really well I think." Ryo said with a smile as he patted Izzy on the shoulder. "Especially if you like girls who like black." "Yeah, Izzy needs a girlfriend." Tentamon said as he flew overhead, listening in on the conversation. "Since the girl stopped talking to him he's ignored all women except for the other Digidestined." "Shut up, Tentamon." Izzy said looking above with an annoyed look at his digimon who didn't seem to know when to keep his mouth shut apparently. "And I don't ignore girls, I just don't have time to date!" "I bet if she e-mailed you today you'd make time to go out with her." Tentamon shot back with a smile in his partner's direction. "Well if Izzy ever makes it to my world I'll introduce him to Alice." Ryo said with a friendly pat on Izzy's shoulder. "And you never know, maybe the other girl will e-mail you sometime or come looking for you, it could happen you know. Like Terriermon always says, Momentia, don't worry about it. I.....can't believe I said that."  
  
Meanwhile  
  
"Hey, Alice, look over there." Rika said pointing a finger towards a large tree, which she was pretty sure had a digimon in it. She'd caught something climbing up it anyway and if it was a digimon then maybe it could help them. It was nearly dark and they needed to find a place to camp out soon. "Let's check it out." Kyubimon agreed and changed direction, heading straight for the tree in long leaps. Coming to a stop in front of it the girls got off her back and walked over to stand at the base of the tree where they couldn't see anything but Kyubimon confirmed she could smell something or someone. "Is anyone in the tree, we aren't here to cause you any trouble, we were just wondering if you could recommend a place to sleep around here that would be safe." Rika said as she looked in the branches. "Neither of our digimon will hurt you." "There are some caves nearby." A voice from above and the girls watched as a squirrel like digimon hopped down the tree to land on a branch that hung over their heads. "You and your digimon could sleep there." "What direction?" Renamon asked having evolved back to her rookie form, her energy depleted too much for her to remain as Kyubimon. She recognized the digimon, Copmon, and knew them to generally be kind and truthful monsters. They reminded her a lot of Gilmon in fact, but less childish. "Can you smell the water nearby?" Copmon asked as it peered down at them, cocking his head in a way that reminded the girls of an owl. "Yes." Renamon said with a nod, "due east from here." "You're smelling the waterfall, there are caves all around it." Copmon said with a titter in his voice. "I think that'll work." "Thanks, we'll do that, here." Alice said reaching into her pocket where she'd stuck an energy bar to nibble on. Breaking off a piece she held it out to the digimon who eagerly took it into its paws. Thanking them profusely for the gift the digimon stuffed the whole thing into its mouth and began to chew rapidly making his head look twice as big as before so puffed out were his cheeks. Calling out their thanks the two girls and their digimon made there way in the direction the Copmon had pointed out and found that as the Copmon had said the area was ideal for camping out as there were plenty of caves to chose from.  
  
later that evening  
  
Renamon walked around the outside of the cave as she tried to figure out what was bothering her so. She'd tried to get some sleep since Cyberdramon had said he was going to stand guard for the first half of the night but she still couldn't sleep, her mind and senses too active. Something or someone was keeping her awake and she was getting the bad feeling that it was the latter. Not that she'd seen or heard anyone following then besides the children who had brought them here but it was something else, something far more dangerous. But what was it that her eyes couldn't see and her nose couldn't smell? "Why aren't you asleep, I can handle it." Cyberdramon growled from the shadows where he'd been standing guard, insulted that she thought she needed to stand guard as well. "Something's not right." Renamon said, deciding to tell the truth. "I know it sounds unlikely but I sense someone is following us other then the children and their Digimon." "I sensed nothing." Cyberdramon growled. "I can't pick up on it in anyway, it's more of a feeling, an instinct." Renamon said as her eyes scanned the area around them; the only sounds present were the crickets and the water falling nearby. "I know someone's out there, I can't describe it but I do." "You're imagining things, Renamon. I wouldn't have thought it of you." Cyberdramon said looking at her harshly. "Just keep your eyes open, Cyberdramon." Renamon said quietly before making her way back into the caves with the eyes of two digimon on her, one set glowing faintly in the darkness from its perch in a nearby tree where it watched and pondered.  
  
In the morning  
  
"Uh oh." Alice said pointing to the north as they prepared to leave the caves to set out again on the trail. Coming up quickly were two Digimon that appeared to be above rookie form and were headed in their direction. As they drew closer the girls and their digimon recognized two familiar figures riding on the back of the large bird like digimon and with a sinking feeling the people on the back of the other digimon who resembled a Pegasus. "Looks like they're more persistent then we thought." "Damn." Rika said, pretty sure that she was seeing the little blue digimon Veemon in the arms of one of the figures on the Pegasus, which would suggest the figure was the annoying Davis. "Of all the luck." "Hey there." A voice the girls recognized as Tai's as the bird swooped down, landing a few meters from the girls and their digimon. "You guys okay?" "We're fine. Like we said before, we can take care of ourselves." Rika said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, her sunglasses hiding her eyes from view. She was in a hurry and these guys had outlived their usefulness. "You didn't need to come and baby-sit us." "Funny, since you're going the wrong way." Yolei shot back as she slide off her digimon's back with a glare. There was no way in hell she was going to let these girls wander around the Digital World like they own the place. "We just stopped here for the night because it provided better cover, we are aware we moved off the path they took." Alice said with a voice that dripped with ice water. "Like Rika said, we can handle ourselves." "Yeah but there's a shorter way to get where they are." T.K. said as he slide off Pegasusmon's back as they landed beside Halsemon, Yolei's digimon. "That's why we're here, to tell you about it. You did say that it was important you find him quickly right?" "That's true, but why did you all come then?" Alice said crossing her own arms in front of her chest, letting them know that neither she nor Rika were going anywhere unless they felt like it. She hadn't slept the best and was not in a nice mood. "Well it was Cody who pointed out that you could cute through the Gurillimon Valley to get to the guys quicker since that's where they're headed." Tai said with a smile as he stood beside Yolie, just in case. "I was going to come by myself to tell you but I wouldn't have been able to catch up to you guys on foot so I knew either Yolie or T.K. had to come with me. These are Hawkmon and Patamon's evolutions by the way." Tai added motioning to the two digimon. "Halsemon and Pegasusmon." "Nice." Rika said with a raised eyebrow. "But that doesn't explain why there's more then two of you here." "Well we were worried about you guys and thought that we should all come in case you were in trouble. Plus if we're going to show you the way to where the guys are we're all safer in a group then alone." T.K. said with a friendly smile. "I know you'd rather go by yourselves but it really isn't a good idea, no matter how strong your digimon are." "Yeah, Red, wouldn't want you to get eaten, you'd poison the poor digimon." Davis chimed in with a smirk as he and Veemon shared a grin. "If we let you guys come with us I'll tell you now that if you call me Red once more I'll knock your lights out, kid." Rika said with a more aggressive stance to her posture. She hated being called red or other stupid little nicknames like that. She especially didn't tolerate it from snot nosed brats with visions of grandeur. "You could try, Red." Davis said with a wide smirk, sure that she wouldn't dare try anything with all his friends around. Besides, she was just a girl, what's the worst she could do to him? "You're right kid, I could." Rika said stepping forward and before Davis had any warning she drew back her fist and nailed him in the face, knocking him clear off his face and into the dirt. With a cry Veemon tried to shake Davis awake while Rika walked back over to stand beside Renamon who looked at her Tamer with a smirk. That was her Rika. "Nice right hook." T.K. said with a smirk as he looked at Davis who was already looking a little purple in the face. "T.K., how can you say that?" Yolie said as she ran over to help Veemon pull the unconscious Davis into a sitting position. "He's our friend." "And she gave him warning, he should have known better after that bully in the park that Rika's not one to take crap from anyone. Besides, it was a nice punch, he never saw it coming." T.K. pointed out with a hint of a grin. "Plus he'll be fine, you know how hard Davis's head is, he probably barely felt it." "Yeah I did." Davis groaned out as he opened one eye, the one that wasn't already swelling with a hundred different colours blooming around it already. Sure that Davis was fine now Veemon let go of his partner's arm and marched over to Rika to give her a piece of his mind for hurting poor Davis. The brief showing of teeth from Renamon had him rethink the idea and walking back to his partner a bit quicker then usual. "We'll let you come with us." Alice said after she and Rika had finished discussing the idea while the other's tended to Davis. "But don't think that you can order us around or interfere with what where here to do. If you try anything stupid you'll see just why our digimon are feared and revered in our Digital World. Deal?" "Deal." Tai said with a nod. "But if you try to harm the Digital World or its inhabitants in any way we will stop you and get you out of here so fast your head will spin." "Deal." Well that's it for now, I'm trying to update as many of my stories as possible before March Break so if you read any of my others keep an eye out for the updates. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing my stuff and those who have been simply reading. BIG thanks especially to Kurokitsumon for letting me borrow one of his characters who you will be meeting in more detail in the following chapters to annoy Renamon as she continues to sense him but not see him. 


	6. A Normal Day in the Digital World

Note: As always I own nothing but my original characters and this messed up plot. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing and thanks just for reading.

A Normal Day In The Digital World

Rika figured that she could possibly allow Davis to live, if pigs were to fly and candy were to grow from trees. Even now her fists were clenched at her sides and she'd hit him no less then a few hours ago for the Red comment. How could there be a living being that annoyed her more then Kazu did? She'd never thought such a thing was humanly possible but this brat had proved that theory flawed. And she couldn't even figure out what it was about the jerk that rubbed her the wrong way but there was just something about him that made her itch to take him down.

"He really gets to you, doesn't he?" Alice said from her left side, Renamon at her right. They'd opted to let Renamon and the other digimon have a break so they were all walking for the first little bit, Davis and Veemon walking on the far left and Rika on the far right. 

'Yeah, worse then Kazu or Kenta." Rika said with an annoyed look on her face. "We better kind this Ken guy soon or the moron's going to end up in more pain then thought humanly possible." She added in a completely reasonable voice. "Maybe you should try your laptop again when we stop, maybe it'll work and we can send a message home."

"I'll try but something's seriously interfering, I wish I had kept in contact with Digidestined a bit longer then I did, he was teaching me a lot about manipulating radio waves." Alice said in frustration.

"Why did you stop talking to him, if you don't mind me asking." Rika asked to take her mind off the goggle-headed freak.

"Well we had talked to each other for nearly four months before he suggested we meet, then the asshole stood me up. That was the end of our communication. I don't visit his usual chat area anymore and I changed my codes so that he couldn't email me anymore." Alice said with a sour look. "My pic probably scared him off, the jerk."

"Maybe something came up or one of you screwed up on the meeting place or the time?" Renamon said thoughtfully. She knew that men tended to be intimidated by Alice but if the two had been communicating for that long the boy would have realized that long before they'd decided to meet.

"Not likely, we emailed each other a half an hour before the meeting to make sure everything was in order. He just didn't show." Alice said with a touch of lingering hurt in her voice. "Besides, when I tried to get back into the chat room later to give him a piece of my mind I couldn't get back in, the site was taken down or he blocked me somehow."

"So where are you girls from exactly?" T.K. asked as he moved away from Davis's side to walk beside Alice. He figured Rika had had enough time to cool off and he was curious to find out more about the girls and their digimon. "You're both Japanese?"

"I'm not." Alice said looking over at him with a slight smile; the kid was okay, much less annoying then Davis. "I'm Irish, a McCoy."

"I'm Japanese and we both live in Japan." Rika said figuring to give him enough to satisfy his curiosity on the subject. "I've lived there all my life while Alice lived in Ireland since she was a toddler till she was ten and came with her father to Japan."

"That would be so cool, I'd love to go to Ireland sometime." T.K. said with a smile, glad that they weren't biting his head off. He and the rest had already figured that they'd played nice to get them here but weren't so sweet in reality. "So you two have boyfriends that'll cream Tai if he keeps flirting with you guys?"

"I do." Rika said with a smirk. "Alice doesn't."

"They're friends are coming." Cyberdramon as he flew over from where ever he'd been to hover near the girls.

"Our friends, but why? They were suppose to head home last night and stay there unless we contacted them about trouble." T.K. said with concern in his voice. "Did you tell them to do differently, Yolie?" He asked as he looked over at Yolie who was walking beside Davis but was close enough to have heard the conversation.

"I didn't tell them any differently, T.K. There must be trouble." Yolie replied casting accusing looks in the girls' direction. "You two wouldn't know anything about it, now would you?"

"Well you got here through computer but something's wrong and my computer won't work down here, maybe your lap top won't work either and they couldn't get back." Alice reasoned sending Yolie a hard look in return. "And seeing as we've made it clear we don't want you around what possible reason could we have to want to trap you here with us? Wouldn't we want to do the opposite? Think about it."

"She's right, they have no reason to trap us here." Patamon chimed in from T.K.'s arms. "I'm sure that Alice is right and something is just interfering with the computers."

"The question is what is interfering." Yolie said with a dark look. "Why don't we wait here for them to catch up and find out."

"We could handle a break." Alice said before Rika could Yolie where she could put that particular comment. "Couldn't we, Rika?"

"Fine." Rika said with a look of annoyance. "But they had better hurry it up."

"So anyway then Kazu got the bright idea that they should tell Rika that the reason she doesn't play cards professionally anymore was because she just didn't have it anymore and that she'd quit to avoid the embarrassment of being beaten and losing her title." Ryo said with barely concealed glee. "And her face, oh God but I wish I'd had a camera. Her face went completely blank for a moment and then this look came into her eye and it was like, Kazu's a dead man. Course the moron didn't realize this and was standing there, waiting for her to react."

"Yeah and of course everyone went quiet after the moron said it because they knew he'd practically just asked Rika to kill him." Impmon put in with a grin on his face. "Kenta looked ready to pass out at any moment."

"He did too, but that was only after Rika paid Kazu back for the comment." Ryo said with a grin of his own. "At least he didn't break his glasses, Takato caught him before he hit the ground."

"So what did she do to him?" Wormon asked with an eager nod. Ryo had been entertaining them with stories about his world and his friends, Rika and Kazu stories were becoming his favourite, they got along worse then dogs and cats.

"Well she just froze him there with a look until all the blood drained from his face and then she very carefully put down the drink she'd been holding." Ryo said with an evil look of his own. "Then she smiled at him really evilly and walked over to him, drew back her fist and swung-stopping centimetres from his face."

"And the moron fainted dead away without her even having to land the blow!" Impmon said with a laugh as he broke into laughter along with the other guys and their digimon, the sound making up for the silence of the woods. "And no one caught him either." 

"Poor guy, do those two ever get along?" Ken asked with a chuckle and shake of his head. "Davis gets along better with T.K.."

"Well they'd get along just fine if it weren't for Davis's obsession with Kari, otherwise they'd get along reasonably well I think." Izzy said with a smile. "When Davis eventually realizes that he doesn't stand a chance those two will get along a lot better."

"Yeah but when is Davis going to realize that those two are perfect for each other is the million dollar question." Ken said with a knowing smirk, Davis' crush on Kari being a constantly talked about topic. The poor guy, Davis just never seemed to get it.

"Kari, what are you doing here?" Davis said waving his arms wildly as Kari climbed off the back of Nefertimon, Mickey and his digimon following her down. 

"We couldn't get back, the computer just went haywire and we haven't been able to do much with it except turn it on." Kari said with a shrug, no idea what had prevented them from getting home. Mickey's mom must be worried sick. "Guess we weren't meant to let you guys go anywhere without us."

"Oh joy and rapture." Rika said under her breath. "Where's Cody and his digimon, shouldn't they have come with you too?"

"They're coming, we would have all been to much for Nefertimon so Cody opted to digi-volve his digimon and ride him here, they should be here any minute." Mickey said with a cheerful look. "So have you found my brother and Ken yet?"

"Your brother?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Izzy, he's with Ken. He's really good with computers too, he's one so many awards my dad had to build his a trophy case." Mickey said with a huge grin. "Izzy likes to hack like you too Alice." He added remembering hearing Rika mention that Alice was a hacker.

"Oh, what's his username, maybe I've heard of him." Alice said with a smile. Since the guy was from this world she would probably have never heard of him but she could play along and pretend she had, give the kid a charge.

"Digidestined." Mickey said with a proud grin. "So have you heard of him?"

Rika actually felt a shiver run down her spine at the way Alice's eyes narrowed, to mere slits in microseconds. She'd never seen that look on Alice's face before and she could safely say that she never wanted to see it ever again. "Ah-Alice?"

"Digidestined?" Alice said through clenched teeth. "The hacker Digidestined is your older brother, Mickey?"

"Ah-yeah, are you okay, Alice?" Mickey asked looking a bit nervous as he looked from her to Rika then back again. "You don't look so good."

"Oh I'm fine, Mickey. Don't worry about me." Alice said as a rather frightening smile took over her features. She'd been waiting a long time to meet with Digidestined and it would appear that she'd be meeting up with him in a few days. And her without a blowtorch and other weapons or torture. Darn.

"Alice, you're scaring me, I don't scare easily. What's going through your head right now and how much of it is R rated?" Rika asked with a weary look.

"She looks like you when you're about to slaughter Kazu at cards, Rika." Renamon said with a slight smirk on her face. Watching the children bicker was proving to be a good distraction from whatever was giving her these strange feelings. She was sure that they were being followed by something but no matter what she did she couldn't figure out where the intruder was or even what the intruder was. She would guess a digimon but then why couldn't she even place its origins. I t was almost as if it were taunting her, letting her know that it was close by but refusing to give her the satisfaction of spotting it.

"No wonder Kazu always looks so terrified." Rika said with a grin though it was a bit stretched. Alice looked perfectly normal now but there was just something about her eyes that made Rika think that Alice was far from normal.

"So do you know Izzy from the web? He's one of my best friends." Tai said moving over to talk to them after they got done going explaining their attempts to get home. He was rather glad that they hadn't been able to get back, he was interested in the two strangers and wanted to know more about them. Especially about those D-Arcs of theirs.

"I've heard of him." Alice said with an easy smile that would have sent warning signals through anyone who knew her at all. It was a smile that hinted she had something up her sleeve and that whatever it was would not be nice.

"Cool, I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you, he loves to talk computer shop but most of us in the group don't know even a quarter of what he does." Tai said with a charming look. "Yolie is pretty good with the things too."

"Oh I'm looking forward to meeting him already." Alice said, thinking of all the pain Black Angel would soon be inflicting upon Digidestined. Before she'd thought to send multiple viruses to his computer before she'd found out she couldn't get into that stupid chat line. Now she was going to get to meet him face to face, how perfect. 

"Poor bastard." Cyberdramon said under his breath, though he approved of his temporary tamer's actions. This Digidestined was quite possibly responsible for Ryo's disappearance, it was right that she intended to make him suffer for his actions. Rika should feel the same. Of course Rika was a slow burner, she could be plotting terrible death for Digidestined as well and just not showing it.

"So I guess we're all going to visit Ken and Izzy." Kari said with a cheerful shrug. She had a really bad feeling that something was seriously wrong but were these girls connected in any way? They'd tried to e-mail Ken and Izzy when they couldn't get through for advice but they hadn't been able to get through to them. What if something had happened to them?

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned to see Cody coming on the spiked back of a large digimon, one Ryo's D-Arc recognized as Ankylomon. "Sorry we took so long." Cody added as he slid off his digimon. "Did I miss anything?"

"Rika punched Davis in the face and gave him a black eye." T.K. said cheerfully with a wink in Davis' direction. "You would have appreciated the beauty of it. Do you take martial arts, Rika?" 

"No but one of my best friends is really into that stuff and Henry taught us girls some basic moved for self defence." Rika said with a smile. "Plus I did learn a few things in gym class, I'm really good at fencing and boxing."

"Just my friggin luck." Davis groaned, cradling his face as he hoped for sympathy from his beautiful Kari. Maybe Rika punching him hadn't been such a bad thing. Concerned Kari came over to gently take his head to look it over, effectively making this the best day of his entire life.

"You know, T.K., you're a pretty tolerant guy." Rika said with a smirk as she shot him a knowing looking. "If my boyfriend ever caught a guy playing sick to get my attention he would have something to say about it."

"No he wouldn't, he would know that you probably wouldn't care." Alice said with a grin. "Besides, he's not the jealous type."

"Why would I be jealous." T.K. said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eye. "Kari would never go out with Davis and it's not like that between Kari and me, we're just friends."

"Right-and I'm the friggin Easter Bunny." Tai said throwing his arm around T.K.'s shoulder. "And just in case you didn't know, Matt and I give you our permission to date her, once you get up the nerve to ask her. Need some tips?"

Watching her best friend's face go a strange shade of red Kari sent Tai a mad look. "What did you say to T.K., Tai." Completely forgetting about Davis Kari hurried over to stand in front of Tai, shooting him an annoyed look. 

"I didn't do anything Kari, I was only talking to him, right girls?" Tai said sending Kari an angelic look that would have fooled anyone but her. His baby sister knew him too well.

"If you say so." Alice said with a smirk. 

"Ah Izzy-I have a really bad feeling about this." Ryo said looking towards the woods ahead where bird type digimon were flying out of in all directions. Something had startled them and Ryo had a feeling that they were going to be seeing what really soon.

"You're not the only one." Izzy said feeling like someone had just walked over his grave. The forest was becoming too quiet after being so loud moments ago when the sound of many bodies fleeing had reached their ears.

"Should we keep going or go around it?" Ken said looking over at the two. He had the same bad feeling as both of them and he was definitely not looking forward to a fight, not that they couldn't handle it. But what about Ryo, Impmon wasn't Ryo's digimon, how was he suppose to defend himself if he didn't have his digimon with him?

"I say we check it out. Impmon, you in?" Ryo asked looking down at the digimon. He and the obnoxious digimon might not get along overly well but he was pretty sure that Impmon would do what he could if there was a battle, even if it was only to save his own skin.

"Course I'm in, after the D-Reaper nothing scares me." Impmon said, not exactly telling the truth. He had a feeling that whatever they were about to face was just as bad as the Sovereigns but he'd face them, he could face this. 

"I think we should go ahead as well, we won't know what it is we're up against unless we face it head on." Tentomon said with a bravery he didn't necessarily feel.

"Well then, lets go and see what we're up against." Ken said with a nod and picking up their pace slightly the six figures made their way to where the noise had come from before being violently cut off.

"Oh my God." Ken said staring at the destruction visible before them. The trees, ground, everything way black or dead, as though all the life and colour had been sucked out of it. Even when he'd been the Emperor he'd never seen such damage or dreamed of anyone causing it. What could have done this?

"Oh boy." Ryo said whistling lightly under his breath as he looked around with a sense of being in a time warp. The D-Reaper had caused a great deal of damage and had destroyed so much while it had been active; this brought it all back with startling clarity. They were definitely up against something powerful, not to mention deadly.

"Guys." Izzy said pointing to where there were still some hints of green though it was rapidly disappearing to be replaced my grey, lifeless matter. "I think I saw something move over there, let's check it out." Nodding their agreement they made their way in that direction at a run and nearly ran into each other as they stared at the scene being played out in a small clearing. There was a digimon, a mega at least who stood laughing at several smaller, rookie or less digimon who he'd trapped against a rock face. Before the boys' horrified face the mega digimon drew back its fist and from it shot several fireballs, hitting and deleting several digimon with that single attack.

"Bastard!" Impmon called and was in the clearing as quick as lighting with Ryo hot on his heels, digimonless but unwilling to stand by and watch the carnage. From behind him he could hear his friends at his heels and with a smile heard them call out to their digimon.

"Wormon."

"Tentomon."

Bright light engulfing them two digimon had replaced them by the time they'd reached the other digimon who'd turned to face them with a sneer.

"Stingmon."

"Kabuterimon."

"I may not be able to digi-volve but you're going to have to get through me to get to those digimon." Impmon yelled out as flames burst from his fingers. "Impmon Inferno." He yelled, throwing the balls of flames at the Digimon while Ryo scooped up a large stone from the ground and hurled it at the digimon, catching it just under the eye. Attention no longer on them the young digimon ran for cover while the digimon tormentor stared at the calvary with an evil gleam in its eyes.

"You'll be deleted for that." The digimon said in a deep voice. "I'm Frewmon and no one attacks me and denies me my prey."

"Well there's a first time for everything." Ken said with a look of intense anger on his face. The digimon was shorter then Stingmon, black with spikes around its neck and limbs. It's eyes glowed an evil yellow and Ken simply stared back, unwilling it let it gain an inch. "Stingmon, show him what happens to people who pick on those weaker then them and kill for pleasure."

"No problem, Ken." Stingmon said flying into the air then charging, drawing back his fist as he delivered a brutal blow. "Spiking Strike."

"I'm with you, Stingmon. Let's teach this guy a lesson." Kabuterimon called out as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. " Electro Shocker!"

"What!!" Frewmon yelled before the two hits blasted him into the air to land on the ground, his body wavering as he struggled not to delete. He'd used up so much energy destroying this area that he wasn't up to fighting these two digimon who rivalled him in level. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Because you use your abilities to destroy life, for no reason other then your own pleasure." Impmon called out, disgusted by the very sight of the digimon. What he had been before Rika and Jeri had shown him what he had become. "And if I could digi-volve I'd finish you off myself."

"Ken?" Izzy said looking over at Ken. If they gave their digimon the order they could delete the digimon, but would that make them no better then the digimon?

"Lightning Storm Attack!"

The silver bolts sliced through Frewmon, his data exploding into the air to float away and into the air. Turning their heads to stare at the way that the bolt had come from they only had an impression of a dark shape before it disappeared into the shadows as though it were a part of it.

"Just like Renamon." Ryo muttered as he stared at the spot before turning back to stare at his friends. "Well just what we need, another thing we don't know or understand.

Watching the figures leave he cocked his head to one side. They had hesitated to kill Frewmon even though he would have killed them without a thought. What fools, but then humans weren't exactly known for their intelligence to begin with. Well he'd leave them to whatever they were up to for now, he would head back and continue to follow the group with the Renamon who could sense his presence. How she could sense his presence was a mystery to him, no one had been able to before. He'd go back and watch that group some more, perhaps the redhead would punch the one with goggles on his in the face again. 

Thanx for reading and I hope you'll review, thanx heaps.


	7. A Question of Morals and Misunderstandin...

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my twisted plot, everything else belongs to other people who never should have ended Digimon the way they did. Anyway don't sue cause you wouldn't get anything out of it cause I'm not getting paid to do this! Also is dedicated to Artsygirl for giving me the idea about a T.K./Rika misunderstanding and to Sam, here's a bit of Ryo/Rika and I intend to have more in later chaps so don't die on me.

A Question of Morals and Misunderstandings

"Well I have to say that there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that I will ever forgive Ryo for getting himself kidnapped." Rika said firmly under her breath, her calf muscles killing her though she refused to comment on it. There was no way in hell she was giving Yolie the satisfaction. "We better kind Ken soon or I swear to god I'm going to do something drastic."

"Well it could be worse." Alice said diplomatically thinking that punishing Ryo would be the last thing on her friend's mind when they found him. She was pretty sure Rika was really worried about him and that she was acting the part of the Ice Queen to hide it. "We could be stuck here with Kazu and Kenta, or worse we could be bio-merged with them."

"Okay that's too satanic to even comprehend." Rika said with a mock shiver, the very idea more horrifying then facing her mother's fashion sense. "How's it going, Renamon, can you still sense another presence?" Rika added, trusting her digimon's senses completely. If Renamon said that there was something out there stalking them then she wouldn't even question it.

"I can still sense it but it fades in and out." Renamon said with a look of frustration, getting more pissed off by the second as she waited for her chance to face the phantom. "It's like whatever it is wants to taunt me with its presence."

"Maybe the heats getting to you." Mickey chimed in from Tai's shoulders, enjoying the view quite a bit. This was so cool; it was like the digital adventures his brother had told him about. He couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. Maybe Rika would punch Davis again so he could see her do it.

"I doubt it, Mickey. Now if it would quit being a coward and shot its self I'd prove it." Renamon said louder then was necessary, hoping that the coward remark would make the creature come out into the open instead of playing with her head. This was proving to be more annoying then she'd ever thought possible and she wanted it to end now. "If you want I can digi-volve and give you a break, Tai." Renamon added as she noticed that Mickey's weight was beginning to slow Tai down.

"I'm fine, Renamon. Thanks for asking though. So Rika, Alice, how did you meet up with your digimon?" Tai asked with a wink as he continued to trudge along, unwilling to admit that Mickey appeared to have gained a couple hundred pounds in the last hour.

"Renamon appeared in my room one night and Alice met her digimon in her backyard." Rika said referring to Dobermon, Alice's former digimon. He actually hadn't really been Alice's but everyone acted as though he had been. Alice had even tried to recreate Dobermon but had realized the futility of it and had quit trying. Looking over at Alice quickly Rika was glad to see that Alice looked the same with no sign of strain at the mention of her former digimon.

"Bet he scared the hell out of you." Tai said with a laugh as he motioned to Cyberdramon who was slightly ahead of them, acting as a scout for possible trouble. "My mom would have had a heart attack if my digimon looked like him."

"Well mom's are like that when it comes to him." Rika said with a grin, thinking of her own mother's reaction to Cyberdramon. She hoped her mother was okay, she couldn't recall her mother ever fainting before and Rika had gotten herself into plenty of situations that would make a mom feel light headed. "So how did you guys get your digimon?"

"I met mine when I was accidentally sent to the Digital World during summer camp." Tai said with a smile of remembrance. There were seven of teleported together, including T.K. over there and his older brother Matt. And Kari met hers in the Real World a little while after T.K. and I got our digimon.

"And we got our digimon the same way as T.K. and the rest." Yolie said with a shrug, motioning to the others. "The other people in the Real World got their digimon after we defeated the bad guys."

"Somehow I get the feeling that this is really going to back fire on everyone." Alice said thinking of their own situation back home with the dimensions of the Real and Digital World. So much damage had been done to their time by the Devas and the D-Reaper, what was there to stop a repeat from happening here? "Basically anyone can have a digimon here and the Real World wasn't made to handle that, plus what's to stop the digimon from being used inappropriately or being forced to do things like that bully had taught his digimon to act like a monster. Digimon aren't created bad, something makes them bad. Don't the people around here realize what kind of damage digimon are capable of doing if put in the right circumstances? Even one of him used in the wrong way could result in a lot of destruction and even death." Alice said motioning to Cyberdramon.

"Maybe you're digimon would do that kind of damage but ours wouldn't." Yolie said with a dark look, her dislike of the girls growing by the minute. "Not all the people with digimon are monsters."

"But she does have a good point, Yolie." Cody spoke up wearily, knowing that he was going to get blasted for this. "I'm glad that Armadillomon can stay in the Real World with me but I can see Alice's point too. Think how much damage to the Digital World has been done over the years by digimon and humans, what's to stop that from happening in the Real World. Its like a sword, Yolie, it can be as easily used to protect as it can to kill."

"Yeah but-well that may be true but I'm not about to try and find a way to keep digimon from entering the Real World." Yolie said stubbornly. "You two wouldn't want to only be able to see your digimon in the Digital World now would you?"

Rika smirked at the irony of Yolie's words; that was exactly what they lived with. The digimon could come to their world for small periods but it was impossible for them to be around on a daily basis, much as Rika often wished it were different. "Sure it would suck, but at least in the Digital World I wouldn't have to worry about something happening to her. Renamon's my partner, her well being is more important to me then what suits me."

"Same goes, Rika." Renamon said with a smile. "Same goes."

^* * *^

"So you think that the digimon that killed Frewmon was a Renamon?" Izzy asked as they stopped to fill their canteens at the river. In was actually more of a stream at the moment but according to Ken it widened out ahead of them. 

"It's possible that it was a Renamon, they're no pushovers and love to battle if given the chance. Plus they're really good about disappearing into shadows and remaining undetected." Ryo said thoughtfully as he pushed water into his canteen with his spare hand while the over held the canteen steady. "But the attack's wrong, I've never seen Rika's Renamon use an attack called Lightning Storm Attack and most digimon have two attacks and those are native to the species. It's possible that whatever we saw if similar to Renamon, a subspecies or cousin in design."

"That makes sense, I just wish we knew what it was, who's side its on." Ken said with a sigh as he screwed the lid on his canteen on tight. "In that case it was on our side but something tells me it had its reasons for interfering which had nothing to do with us. Whatever kind of digimon it is it's a dangerous one."

"It didn't hesitate to kill Frewmon at all." Izzy said thoughtfully, his mind still on what they'd witnessed a few hours ago. "But then again who knows what would have happened. In a lot of way digimon are like animals and people in that they do what they need to do to survive. None us here would kill for the pleasure of it but personally I'm willing to acknowledge that I would be capable of killing someone if put in the right situation, I think everyone is. We can't really judge the digimon for what it did as it didn't appear to be doing it for any other reason then to rid this area of something bent on destroying its home and neighbours."

"Izzy's right, in the case of the D-Reaper and the Devas we didn't have a choice, they had to be destroyed to preserve the greater good." Ryo chimed in, realizing that this was an important topic to discuss, they were here to fight after all and he needed to know what they were willing to do. "I don't enjoy deleting digimon but I've done it and if I have to will do it again, what about you guys? What happen today could happen again, we need to decide how we're going to handle that."

"I may not be able to pass this level but I'll do whatever it takes to protect the digimon of this world from this psycho." Impmon said passionately, thinking of all the things he'd done the first time he'd digi-volved to his next level. He'd deleted a lot of innocent digimon and nearly destroyed Jeri; he wasn't going to let that happen to anyone else 

"I'm with Impmon, its our duty to do what's necessary to protect the Digital World from Aracnamon and whatever else there is out there that wants to destroy everything we've built here." Wormon said quietly but firmly.

"Then we will, Wormon." Ken said with a nod as picked up his digimon. "Izzy, Tentomon?"

"We're in too, right, Izzy?" Tentomon said as flew near Izzy's shoulder, waiting for his partner to agree or disagree with him.

"Right, I'm in too. Now let's head out and show Aracnamon exactly what we're made of, guys." Izzy said with a thumbs up sign. "Let's move out."

^***^

Sitting off to the side Rika looked at the pictures in her wallet and sighed, she was even missing Kazu-kinda. It wasn't like she'd never been away from home before but there was something about knowing that there was a slight chance that she might never get back that worried her. She knew in her heart that they'd find some way back home but there was just this nagging little voice in the back of her head that whispered that she might not. And Ryo Rika thought with a sigh as she tapped the picture of him she had of him in her wallet. For all she knew he could be hurt or lost or god only knows what else and there was nothing she could do about it. Funny how he'd wormed his way into her heart when she wasn't looking. After the D-Reaper and everything that had happened Rika had become casual friends with Ryo eventually but they hadn't started dating until a few months ago. How had he become so important to her in such a small time? Staring into the flames of the fire in front of her Rika wondered if Ryo had a warm fire in front of him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" T.K. asked as he sat down beside her, tired of watching Davis fan all over Kari. Maybe he was never going to become her boyfriend but there was only so much he could tolerate before he wanted to kick Davis's ass. He'd noticed that Rika was all by herself while Alice and Cyberdramon were gone with Yolie and Tai to gather more firewood for the fires. He wasn't sure where Renamon was either but he couldn't see her and had decided that at least around Rika he could get some peace and quiet conversation if conversation at all. Rika wasn't much of a talker.

"There not worth that much." Rika said with a smirk as she closed the wallet. "Got tired of watching the kid make a fool of himself?" She added as she nodded her head in the direction of the other group where the remaining ones sat near there fire. By unspoken agreement they had sent up camp near each other but far enough way to make the segregation known.

"Can I see?" T.K. asked as he motioned to the wallet, curious about her. He was really comfortable around her for some reason and he had a feeling it had to do with her similarities to his older brother. Matt and Rika had a lot in common, T.K. figured it was a shame that Matt wasn't here, the two would get along really well.

"Sure." Rika said as she held out the wallet, not seeing the harm in it. She liked T.K., which was surprising since it usually took a while before she warmed up to anyone. He didn't chatter all the time and acted older then he was, tougher then first impressions gave.

"So is this your family?" T.K. asked as he pointed to the first picture which showed Rika with two other women, obviously related to her.

"Yup, that's my mom and my grandmother. My dad split when I was little so it was just the three of us." Rika said as she pointed out who was who. "What about you, do you have a small family or a big one?"

"Well that depends on how you look at it." T.K. said with a grin as he pulled out his own wallet, opening it up to show her a rare picture of his whole family together that had been taken last year during Christmas. "My parents split up when I was a kid too so my brother Matt and I ended up separating with him going to live with our dad and I stayed with my mom. Anyway after we ended up in the Digital World together Matt and I got much closer and after we wouldn't let our parents keep us apart as much. Now we see each other all the time and mom and dad get along pretty good. That's Sora in the picture too, she's my brother's girlfriend and that's her digimon, Biyomon and Matt's digimon, Gabumon." T.K. added as he pointed to everyone in turn. 

"Nice." Rika said with a smile as she looked at the obviously happy family. "Good looks run in your family. Too bad he isn't here, if he's anything like you he'd come in handy."

"You'd really get along with Matt, you remind me him a lot." T.K. said with a smile as he put his wallet away and turned back to her pictures. "Are these you're friends?" He asked as he pointed to the next page, which showed several kids, most around his age.

"Yup, though how they ended up being my friends is still pretty much a mystery to me." Rika said with a rueful look. "That's out fearless leader sadly enough, Takato and another goggle wearing weirdo but a loveable one. The girl beside him is his girlfriend Jeri, a lot like Kari only I think Jeri would have killed Davis by now. Those two morons are the bans of my existence Kazu and Kenta, less Kenta because he's really not that bad, he just chose a lousy role model in Kazu. Of course you know Alice and the guy beside her is Henry, one of the few I'm happy to admit I'm friends with. The girl on his right is his younger sister, Suzi, a cheerleader with brains. Beside her are the twins Ali and Mako, they're the youngest in our group. The guy beside be is my boyfriend." 

"Looks like a nice guy." T.K. said with a smile as he handed the wallet back to her. "So do they have digimon too?"

"Yup, they all do." Rika said with a smile as she replaced the wallet in her pocket. "So is Davis always annoying or did I just meet him on an off year."

"Teenage hormones." T.K. said with a smirk as he looked over to where his friends were, busily talking about one thing or another while Davis tried to cozy up to Kari. A usual sight to see T.K. thought sourly though he didn't comment on it. "He's had a thing for Kari since he met her and no matter what happens he keeps at it. You gotta feel sorry for the guy.""

"You like her, as more then a friend don't you?" Rika said with a smile as she nodded in Kari's direction. "And I won't say anything, I'm not the type."

"I think I just might." T.K. said with a sigh as he looked in Kari's direction for a moment then turned back to Rika who looked at him with understanding. "Kari and I have been friends for forever it seems, I'm her best friend and I'd rather have that then nothing. People are always telling her we'd make a great couple but she always brushes it off or thinks it's hilarious. If I asked her and she said no-well you can imagine what that'll do to our friendship, even if neither of us wants that to happen."

"That would be a tough situation to be in. I didn't make it easy for Ryo either. If you think I'm bad now it was nothing compared to what I use to be like. I hated Ryo because he had beaten me at something and to me losing was unacceptable so I treated him badly and did a lot of stupid things. He tried to be my friend but I wouldn't let him and it was only when we'd gotten into really deep trouble that I looked beyond my anger to see him for what he was and not what I'd made him to be. After that we were friends and eventually after we'd been friends for a couple of years he asked me out. He must have asked me close to fifty times before I said yes because I figured he was just kidding, that he wouldn't want to go out with someone like me. Turns out he did and I'll be forever grateful that he didn't give up on me, most people would have." Rika said with a smile though it wasn't really a happy one. 

"Well he's a lucky guy if you asked me. Say, would you like to hear about the time Davis "accidentally" walked into the girls locker room while the girls soccer team was getting changed?" T.K. said with a smirk, wanting her to smile.

"I would love to hear about it. After I'll tell you about the time that I made two guys faint dead away without even having to lay a hand on either of them." Rika said with a mischievous look in her eye.

"Well Kari plays soccer of course so……"

"Well don't those two look really cozy." Yolie said in disbelief as she arrived back at the campsite to find T.K. over with the redhead, appearing to be having a fabulous time. How could he!

"What are you talking about, Yolie?" Davis asked as he dragged his eyes away from Kari long enough to shoot Yolie a puzzled look. He was pretty sure that Yolie hadn't meant him and Kari so who could she mean?

"T.K. and Rika, I can't believe he's over there kissing up to her when he should be over here with us. We're his friends after all and she's probably just playing up to him so that when they turn on us he'll be on her side again." Yolie said in disgust and as if on cue T.K. burst into laughter and all the digidestined turned to see T.K. nearly doubled over with laughter with Rika joining him seconds later, the two practically leaning on each other for support. "See what I mean, next thing you know they'll be kissing and holding hands."

"T.K. and Rika?" Kari said in a small voice, looking over at T.K. who was talking animatedly to Rika and felt her heart sink slightly at the fact that T.K. obviously loved the beautiful Rika. Rika was everything Kari thought she wasn't and Kari could feel her heart bruising at the obvious show that T.K. would rather hang out with Rika then with her.

"Well that just goes to prove how nuts he is if he wants to cuddle up with that psycho." Davis said with a smirk as he slugged a shoulder over Kari's shoulder. "I mean sure she isn't hard on the eyes but I'd rather be eaten alive then have her for a girlfriend."

"I doubt I'd be wrong in saying a lot of girls would say the same about the idea of dating you, kid." Alice said as she walked past them with wood in her hands. Smiling at the way Davis had gone pale and shaky Alice nearly whistled as she walked over to their side of the clearing and catching Rika in the middle of describing one of her person favourite Kazu stories sat down as well as Rika described it in full detail. Unaware to anyone a digimon sat nearby, enjoying the stories as well as he wondered if the Ryo this girl called her boyfriend was the same Ryo he'd met earlier that day.

^***^

Well that's it for now, more action and fighting to come in the next chapters plus the Tamers are going to find out where Rika and Alice are and what's to prevent one of them from deciding to visit them along with some Tamer digimon? Plus more from the mysterious digimon as he continues to observe the humans and annoy Renamon. Who is he and what's going to happen when Renamon finally gets a hold of him? LOL. Thanx for reading and please review.


	8. Interesting Happenings

Note: Boy did that last chapter spark a debate, lol. Many of you asked if this is going to be a Rika/T.K. fic, the answer is no though they would make an interesting pair. I will also state for the record that Rika/Matt would in a lot of ways be a better pairing then Rika/Ryo but this story is that kind of fic and will remain so. However I am thinking about doing a Rika/Matt fic so if that interests u let me know. Anyway as always thank you for reading and I own nothing but the original plot/characters.

Interesting Happenings

The digimon sat on the tree limb quietly, his body not moving a centimetre as he watched the humans and their pets. It was interesting to observe and the digimon was learning a lot about human behaviour. So far as he could tell the redheaded one, Rika really hated the guy with the goggles on his head and the feelings were returned. Apparently the goggle human, Davis was afraid of Rika and the digimon found this quite amusing because according to the laws of nature it was the male that was suppose to reign, not the female. Of course the females were the hunters and providers, the fox/virus type digimon couldn't figure out why the females had never simply taken over. Rika's Renamon interested him as well, a cousin of his in type with remarkably similar looks only her colours were different then his own. She sensed his presence, which both annoyed him and made him even more curious about where they'd come from. The digimon that had come with Rika and the blonde Alice were not from this region of the Digital World, they were different, especially the blonde's. A Cyberdramon, he'd never heard of such a digimon before but the digimon appeared to be an interesting character, a worthy opponent though he had no intention of picking a fight with what he guessed to be a dragon or virus type. Seeing something out of the corner of his eye the digimon turned his head slightly to see the blonde boy, T.K. talking to Rika and Alice, the only one besides the child that seemed to seek out the girl's company. The older one had tried, Tai, but the purple haired girl had called him back as had the brunette who watched T.K. with her heart in her eyes. But it didn't appear that the one called Kari was T.K.'s as he made no move to leave Rika's side or rid Kari of the one they called Davis. Interesting beings theses humans, he would miss the entertainment when they were deleted. Perhaps he'd stay with them a while longer, protect them from Aracnamon until it was no longer in his interests to do so.

"When I get a hold of it I'm going to delete it slowly and painfully." Renamon muttered to Rika before bounding off, acting as a scout as they continued on there long journey to find Ken and Izzy. The two groups were separate with Rika, T.K. and Alice in one group and the other digidestined in the other. As far as Renamon was concerned the boy T.K. was the only one using his head. 

Smiling at her digimon's retreating form Rika shook her head with a smirk. "This is really starting to annoy her, especially the fact that the longer this goes on the more annoying it gets that no one but Alice and I believe her."

"If it were anyone but Renamon I'd be sceptical too. But she's never wrong about these kinds of things and I'm inclined to be safe as oppose to sorry. Plus I'm looking forward to rubbing it in Davis's face when Renamon catches whatever is following us." Alice said with a smirk as she adjusted her backpack. 

"So do you suppose whatever it is means us help or harm?" T.K. asked as he walked between the two, Rika on his right and Alice on the left. For some reason Kari didn't seem to want to talk to him so he was walking with them. Maybe she was mad at him for hanging out with Rika last night like Yolie was T.K. though with a sigh, thinking of the lecture Yolie had given him when he'd gone back to their camp to sleep. Alice and Rika weren't the enemy, call it a gut feeling but he was going to trust it. They had an agenda they weren't sharing but T.K. was pretty sure that whatever that agenda was it wasn't to hurt them or the Digital World. Maybe they weren't the biggest people persons but they seemed to care about their digimon and the Digital World, carefully not to leave trash behind or disturb anything. These weren't female Digimon Emperors as far as he was concerned. 

"My money's on either, I think its curiosity." Rika said with a considering look having thought about it carefully. "It hasn't attacked or even made an appearance, as for protecting it has no reason too as far as we know, it doesn't know us as well as we can tell and I doubt it would be willing to risk its life for someone it doesn't know."

"Make's sense." T.K. agreed, glad that she thought whatever was following them wasn't a threat. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right and so he decided to get Rika and Alice's opinion on it. "It's too bad some of your friends and their digimon aren't here, somehow I get the feeling that we're going to need them. I can't explain it but I have a feeling that something's wrong, crazy as it sounds."

"There's nothing wrong about following your instincts, T.K., often it's your best security alarm." Alice said as she absently chewed on her bottom lip. She too had the strange feeling of being off balance and there was just something in the air that didn't feel right at all. "Henry would sure come in handy right about now."

"Henry? The one with the Terriermon and a little sister with a Lopmon?" T.K. asked, recalling the guy's image from the picture Rika had shown him.

"That's the one. He knows more about digimon then Rika and I put together almost. Plus when it comes to fighting he's someone who you can trust to cover your back. Plus he's a computer geek like me and maybe he could help us figure out what's going on." Alice said with a shrug as she looked at Cyberdramon out of the corner of her eye, not liking the way he kept looking at Davis at all. She really didn't like the dork but letting Cyberdramon eat Davis wasn't a good idea, just think of what that might do to the poor digimon.

"Jaarin." Cyberdramon suddenly growled, finally sure that his nose wasn't deceiving him. "And Calumon as well."

"WHAT!" Rika and Alice said together, shock written all over their faces.

"They're close by, that way." Cyberdramon said as he lifted a clawed hand in the direction of Davis where he'd been gazing at moments before. As if on cue Renamon suddenly appeared looking confused as she landed nearby.

"I sense Henry's sister Jaarin and Calumon nearby, I'm almost sure of it." Renamon said looking at her Tamer in confusion. "How could they have possibly gotten here?"

"And who are Jaarin and Calumon?" Yolie demanded as she and the rest of the digidestined moved closer to hear the girls' answers.

"Jaarin is the older sister of friends of ours and Calumon is obviously a digimon that belongs to our friend Jeri. They wouldn't have sent Jaarin to find us though, they would have sent one of the others." Rika said before looking over at Alice who nodded her agreement. "Well we'd better get over there and find out."

Jaarin Wong had been in tight situations before but this most certainly cut the cake. Hanging on the side of a rock ledge a couple hundred feet from the ground was not a good place to be and even as she thought it her grip on the ledge became less secure. In her backpack Jaarin could hear Calumon whimpering in fear and Jaarin wished she could comfort the little guy but at the moment hanging on was more important. Digging her nails in Jaarin looked left and then right before leaning her head against the hard rock surface, she didn't see Suzy or Lopmon anywhere. What kind of data stream had they been caught in anyway, Jaarin wondered as she tried to ignore the cramping in her fingers. She and Calumon had been walking back to head home when she'd seen a black data stream heading straight for Suzy and Lopmon. With Calumon still in her backpack Jaarin had raced forward to try to get to her in time but had only been sucked in along with her sister and the digimon. Now here she was having landed on the edge of the cliff and her sister no where in sight.

"Are we gonna be deleted, Jaarin?" Calumon whimpered from her open backpack, afraid to stick his head out. They'd landed on the cliff, the stream landing them just on the edge so that they'd fallen over the edge, only luck saving them in the form of Jaarin's reflexive grab, which was how they'd ended up in their present situation.

"Not if I can help it, Calumon." Jaarin said in a forced cheerful voice. "Hello, can anyone hear me? We need help over here and we'd appreciate any assistance you could possibly lend us."

"Jaarin?" A voice yelled from far away and Jaarin felt her eyes go the size of saucers as she was pretty sure that had sounded like Renamon's voice, Rika's Renamon. 

"Over here, on the cliff!!" Jaarin yelled and was soon joined by Calumon. Feeling the rocks under her hands vibrate Jaarin looked up to see rocks beginning to fall, her voice and Calumon's echoing off to create a slight landslide. "Son of a bitch." Jaarin yelled as she let go of the ledge, pushing herself further into the air to avoid a large boulder that would have hit her and Calumon dead on. Falling rapidly Jaarin wished she could hold Calumon, her ears filled with their screams as they fell at such a rapid pace that she couldn't even make out the scenery. So this was how she was going to die Jaarin thought just before she felt herself be jerked into something furry before flying into the air, this time horizontal as oppose to vertical. Opening her eyes Jaarin stiffed the gasp at the digimon who held her in his arms, as they seemed to fly through the air. The digimon looked exactly like Renamon only the colours were the opposite, where Renamon was yellow this digimon was black and where Renamon was black this one was yellow. It's black eyes met her for a second before looking forward and doing the same Jaarin watched him bounce from tree to tree, everything a blur before the motioned stopped. Dizzy Jaarin looked around her then gasped when she was dropped on the ground. Her head shooting up she gasped when she saw that the digimon had vanished as though he were never there, not even a footprint Jaarin thought as she looked down at the ground. "Calumon!" Jaarin suddenly cried as she remembered the small digimon. Practically ripping the backpack off her back Jaarin peered into the backpack and with slightly trembling hands pulled the small digimon out. "Are you okay?" 

"I didn't like that, Jaarin." Calumon said weakly as she held him up so that they were face to face, his eyes looking into her grey eyes with nothing even remotely close to his usual mischievous look. "That wasn't fun."

"On that we agree." Jaarin said with a weak look before drawing the little digimon into a hard hug, cradling his against her chest as she waited for her heart to quit racing like she was having a heart attack.

"Jaarin, Calumon!"

Loosening her hold on Calumon the two turned their heads to see the unbelievable sight of Rika, Alice and another boy racing towards them on Kyubimon's back with Cyberdramon flying over their head. She could also see several other people but her eyes were only on the sight of her friends. Standing up on legs that weren't quite steady Jaarin waved rapidly and surprised the hell out of Rika and Alice when she grabbed them and hugged them hard as soon as they'd gotten off of Kyubimon's back. "It is you guys, your okay." Jaarin said as she hugged them before realizing that they were squishing Calumon. Drawing back the digimon grinned at them, his hands holding onto Jaarin's shirt, as she'd let go of him to hold onto Rika and Alice.

"Rika!" Calumon yelled as he let go of Jaarin's shirt to dive into Rika's waiting arms. "We almost got deleted Rika, you should have seen it! We were hanging from the ledge and we were yelling and yelling for someone to come save us and then we heard Renamon and then the rocks started falling and then we went flying through the air cause we were about to get smushed. We were falling and falling and I thought we were gonna get deleted but this digimon who looks just like Renamon only different colours saved us and then he disappeared into thin air!"

"A digimon that looks just like Renamon?" Rika said as she cuddled him close. The poor little guy. 

"You're okay, Jaarin?"

"Well I've been better but all in all I'm in one piece." Jaarin said with a smirk as she brushed herself off. "The question is where's Suzy and Lopmon."

"Suzy and Lopmon? They're here too?" Alice said as she eyes went wide at the very idea; how on earth had this happened? "Are you sure?"

"Well they were caught in the same data stream that we were. Somehow I get the feeling the little pain did it on purpose too." Jaarin said with a roll of her eyes. "Who are your friends and where the hell am I?"

"Well this is T.K. and we're in the Digital World." Rika said telling Jaarin with her eyes that they'd made it to the dimension they'd mentioned in their notes to their parents and Hypnos. "The others go as follows, Tai, Yolie, Cody, Gatomon, Armidillomon, Kari, Agumon, Mickey, George, Hawkmon and Patamon."

"Nice to meet you." Kari said before Yolie could make some nasty comment solely because this girl was a obviously friend of Rika and Alice. The girl was slightly older looking then Rika and Alice and Kari would guess that she was around Tai's age. She had dark blue hair that reached her shoulder blades and grey eyes filled with more then a hint of shock. She had a runners build and Kari figured that most people would consider her cute though not as cute as the digimon she was holding. Now there was the personification of adorably cute.

"Nice to meet you." Jaarin said with a smile, pushing a lock of her dark blue hair out of her way. "I'm Jaarin Wong and this is Calumon. So we actually made it, good to know. So you didn't see any sign of Suzy or the bunny?" 

"No, but its possible that she got dropped off before you or the other way around." Alice said with a considering look. "Renamon, Cyberdramon, do you sense them anywhere?"

"No, but we'll start looking immediately." Renamon said with a determined look. "And don't worry, Jaarin, with Lopmon with her I'm sure she's safe."

"You know the fact that we can't get any messages to the Real World is really starting to bother me. I have the strangest feeling that I really need to get a hold of our friends and until I can figure out what's wrong with my computer there's nothing I can do about finding out why my instincts are on red alert." Izzy said with a sigh. "I hope everyone's not too worried about us, we should have sent them an e-mail or two by now."

"Don't worry bout it, Izzy. I'm sure everything will work out somehow. Besides, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll come here looking for you guys and give us a hand, I have a feeling that Aracnamon is quite aware of our presence thanks to yesterday." Ryo said with a wry look as he rolled his shoulders slightly to relieve some of the tension.

"Well I can't say I'd be overly upset to see any of them right about now." Izzy agreed as he shook his head as though to clear it. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they're already on their way."

"Its too bad your friends couldn't get here either, Ryo. They're obviously more capable of withstanding guerrilla warfare then we are." Ken said with a smirk. "If your Rika's half the wildcat you say she is I can easily see her scaring Aracnamon back under whatever rock he crawled out from under." 

"Yup, what I wouldn't give for her to be here right now."

Lol, that's it for know, kinda short but what can I say, that's the breaks. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think cause I always love to hear from you.


	9. That Annoying Voice

Disclaimer: I apologize for the mix up with Henry's sister's name. I wasn't aware that they'd given her a name in the series and have corrected the error, Erika is now Jaarin and thanx to all those who corrected me. Also I DO LIKE THE DIGIDESTINED! The opinions of them expressed by the shadow digimon are not my own, they're his own opinions of them. 

That Annoying Voice

They'd been calling for Suzi and Lopmon for several hours but no one was yelling back. Jaarin was getting more then a bit discouraged but Tai was doing his best to distract her. Rika and Alice weren't as worried because even though Suzi was a bouncy cheerleader type she was also extremely intelligent and resourceful. Of course Jaarin knew that too but when your baby sister was lost alone in a strange digital demension with only a rabbit excuse her for being a bit worried. Sure that rabbit could become as big as a house but that really wasn't occurring to her at the moment.

"Are you sure that Lopmon was with her?" Alice said after yelling out Suzi's name for what seemed like the millionth time. Her voice was getting hoarse but she continued to call out, worried but trying not to show it. If Suzi had been separated from Lopmon then Jaarin had good reason to worry but if the two were together than that was a different kettle of fish.

"Well she was holding the rabbit and Suzi had tied them together so odds are they're together." Jaarin said with a worried look. What was it with her sister and data streams, it was like they attracted each other.

"Then don't worry so much, Jaarin. If Lopmon is with her then she has a protector that's bigger then some apartment buildings." Rika pointed out as she tried for a grin and just barely managed it. Like Jaarin she had someone she cared a great deal for out there with no idea if he was all right or even alive. When she got a hold of the sons of bitches that were responsible for this she was going to slowly and painfully roast them alive over a fire while slowly poured tar on their burning bodies. And that was only if he was in good condition when she found him. If they'd harmed one hair on his head roasting them alive would seem like a nice thing to do.

"I'm sure you're right but that doesn't stop me from worrying." Jaarin said with a weak smile. Above all else she hated not to be in control of her life and this was one of those situations. "How's it going down there, Calumon?" Jaarin asked as she looked down at the digimon who was skipping at her heels, his usual energy making him as durable as the energizer bunny.

"I'm fine, Jaarin. I don't see Suzi of Lopmon though. They're okay right?" Calumon said, as he looked up at her hopefully, his green eyes huge in his white face.

"I'm sure they're just fine." Jaarin said with another weak smile. "So T.K., you have a brother just like Rika? Must be interesting."

"You could say that." T.K. agreed with a smile, the sounds of the others calling out Suzi's name dimming it slightly. "Matt's definitely an interesting character."

"I don't think they were dropped in this area, Rika." Renamon announced as she suddenly appeared before them.

"She didn't, her and her rabbit are at least two days away from here." An unfamiliar male voice said from somewhere in the shadows.

"It's him, the one I've been sensing." Renamon said as her eyes went hard and her lips drew back to show off her white fangs, which she'd been wanting to sink into their uninvited guest for some time now. "Where are you and what are you?" 

"You didn't recognize me from Jaarin's description, Renamon?" The voice came again, this time from an entirely different area. "How disappointing."

"Thank you for saving me and Calumon." Jarrin called out; looking in the general direction of the voice or at least where she thought it had come from. "Would you please come out so that I could thank you properly? Please?"

"And allow myself to be surrounded by all your digimon? Pathetic though they are I'd rather not risk getting my fur dirty throwing them all into the ground of deletion." The voice continued then chuckled slightly. "The one called Ryo misses you Rika, he wishes that you were with him."

"What the hell did you just say?" Rika demanded as she stepped forward, fire in her eyes though her voice was pure ice.

"The one's that you seek aren't that far away, closer then the girl with her Lopmon anyway." The voice said and this time it was almost as if the voice was coming from above them. "Before you think I have something to do with your present circumstances I don't, just a bystander in this case though I could have caused all this damage, I'm not the type. You eight have come a long way for your friends, a noble characteristic one doesn't normally find in either digimon or humans. As well you should be nicer to them Yolie, if not for their friend your precious Ken and the one they call Izzy would be dead."

"Ken almost died?" Yolie said as she moved to stand beside Rika, worry in her voice as she turned her head back and forth, trying to spot the body behind the voice, not even finding a shadow to give the voice away. Mikey who'd gave a whimper of distress at the news that his brother had almost died was instinctively picked up by Jaarin who cuddled him as he wrapped his arms around her neck. "What are you talking about?"

"You digidestined are too soft, how you ever managed to protect the Digital World is beyond me. Of course the majority of the digimon are weak here so I doubt you had much trouble. Now the D-Reaper would have destroyed you easily, you bunch would have never stood a chance even at your present ages." The voice said and now it was to the left of them.

"How do you know about the D-Reaper?" Alice demanded in a rather pissed off voice. She was tired of this game and she wanted to know what was going on and now. How could this digimon know about the D-Reaper, had it appeared here too and if so then why hadn't T.K. mentioned it? Could the digimon be from their time? Was that possible? "Come out and show yourself you coward."

"I've been listening to your conversations and learning quite a bit." The voice said in a rather amused tone, as though this was all one big joke to him. "I really should be going, time to check in on the others."

"Don't go." Rika called out but no one answered. Looking over to Renamon the fox shook her head; the other digimon was gone. "Son of a bitch. Now there's another person I have to kill before this is al over."

"My brother's okay, right?" Mikey said in a small voice as Jaarin set him back on the ground, his digimon George hopping into his arms.

"I'm sure that he's just fine." Jaarin said as she patted his head comfortingly. "Well I'm inclined to say we should take a break and rest up, apparently we still have a long way to go."

Ryo figured that by the end of this trip he'd be in the best physical condition he'd been in a while. Rotating his shoulders Ryo winced slightly at the pain that caused but continued to do so knowing that if he didn't stretch his shoulders might cramp up on him later which would hurt a hell of a lot more.

"When I get back I'm going to take the bus everywhere, no more walking for a long time." Izzy said with a groan as he leaned over to retie his bootlaces. Luckily he'd come prepared to hike or he'd have likely keeled over days ago. He had no problems with the outdoors, he simply preferred to be indoors with his computer.

"Sounds like a plan." Ken agreed as he placed his hands on the small of his back. "How about you digimon, how you guys holding up?"

"When this is over I'm not leaving my bed for a week and you can bet I won't be doing any walking for a while either." Impmon said with a grimace as wiped some dust off his legs. "And Lord help this Aracnamon when I get a hold of him, Mako and Ali are probably worried to death."

"I'm fine, Ken." Wormmon said with a cheerful smile as he stretched out his many legs. "You'll be in great shape come soccer season." 

"I'm fine too, Izzy." Tentomon buzzed. "A little tired but I can take it. No worries."

"Well you're still alive, that's unexpected." A male voice said from the shadows and all standing or in the case flying the group got into defensive mode, covering each other's backs as they scanned the area for the speaker that had slipped up to them with such apparent ease.

"Who's out there?" Ken demanded as his purple eyes scanned the area, looking for a shadow or a movement that would give the speaker away and show them who they were talking to. "Show yourself, now."

"So demanding, you sound just like Rika and Alice. They demanded me to show myself as well. I didn't listen to them either." The voice said in an amused tone. "I think the redhead misses you Ryo, better hurry up and let her find you before the blonde moves in and replaces you."

"What the Hell are you talking about? What about Rika and Alice? How do you know them?" Ryo demanded as his hands fisted at his sides. "And what blonde?"

"I think his name is T.K., he seems to get along with her quite well, better then the other guys anyway. I don't intend to stay with you long, I want to head back in case Rika decides to hit the guy with the goggles on his head again. That was quite amusing the first time." The voice said with what could almost pass as a chuckle. "Didn't you know that Alice and Rika are here looking for you with their digimon, Ryo?"

"Rika and Alice, here in this Digital World?" Ryo said in shock, blown away as the idea sunk in. Coming after him was most definitely something his Wildcat would do if she knew how. Had she and Alice found some way to get to this reality to try and find him? "Do you mean to tell me that they're here, looking for me and Impmon?"

"That's what I said. The girls and their digimon are here to rescue you apparently. Quite an interesting Renamon she has too, very intelligent and cunning. The one called Yolie doesn't like your Rika very much though, the feeling is mutual." The voice said with growing amusement. "Though I believe Rika dislikes the Gogglehead more."

"You're not talking about Takato, are you?" Ryo asked uncertainly. "Rika wouldn't never punch him and why is Yolie fighting with Rika? I would have thought the two would get along if she's anything like Ken says she is."

"Yolie appears to be convinced that Rika and Alice are responsible for everything that stupid Aracnamon is doing, the stupid idiots. Your fellow humans aren't terribly bright now are they? I wonder if any one of them would actually delete something to save another of their group? Rika and Alice would, they and their digimon have done it before, you can see it in their eyes." 

"Alice doesn't even have a digimon, hers was deleted during our war with the D-Reaper." Ryo argued as his blue eyes continued to scan for any movement or other give away. 

"Ah, well then if not hers then who does the Cyberdramon belong to?" The voice asked with a hint of curiosity. He hadn't heard anything that would indicate that the snarling beast didn't belong to the blonde haired spitfire but it was possibly, it hadn't appeared to like to listen to her at all."

"They brought Cyberdramon with them." Ryo yelled louder then he intended. His digimon was here, free to reek havoc on the digital world. "Rika brought Cyberdramon here? Please tell me Alice is keeping him under control."

"As far as I can see. Is he yours?" The digimon asked having already learned that the loud mouth purple digimon that was to be found at Ryo's side was not the human's digimon. So the blonde was without a digimon of her own, how sad.

"Yes he's mine. So you're telling me that Rika, Alice, Renamon and Cyberdramon are all here, in this dimension, looking for me?" Ryo demanded with frustration clear in his voice.

"Yes, plus the ones they call Jaarin, Calumon, Suzi and a Lopmon. The last four came to get Rika and Alice though. Speaking of which I'd hate to miss out on anymore of the fun, till later." The voice said and just out of the corner of his eye Ryo saw a shadow bounce onto a branch then disappear as though it had been nothing more then a shadow its self. 

"I think Jaarin got pulled in with us, Lopmon. What do you think?" Suzi asked her digimon as they sat on some rocks, contemplating their current situation. Suzi hadn't meant for Jaarin to get pulled in and she hoped that her sister hadn't because that meant that her sister could be anywhere, maybe not even in this dimension.

"I think you're probably right, Suzi." Lopmon said with a weary grimace. "It wasn't your fault though Suzi, she jumped in after us, we didn't know she was there."

"I know but still." Suzi said with a sad look on her face. She'd cleaned off all the dirt she'd collected when they'd landed but not even being in clean clothes and a washed face could make her feel better. A small girl to begin with she seemed even smaller as she sat on the rock, her knees at her chest as she held them with one hand while the other fiddled with her Mandarin collar. Brown eyes filling with unshed tears Suzi wiped them away and standing up on the rock once again cupped her hands to her mouth and called out Jaarin's name, her shoulder length hair, in their usual pigtails flying out behind her. After yelling for what seemed like hours Suzi gave up and flopping down on the rock again reached into her large backpack and pulled out her laptop. Opening it up she began to press buttons at the speed of light as her fingers danced over the keys like a pianist playing a complicated symphony. "Well at least we can figure out where Rika and Alice are, Lopmon." Suzi said and with a few more strokes of the keys a map appeared on the screen then miniature versions of Renamon's and Cyberdramon's heads. "Well at least Rika and Alice appear to still be together, that's something anyway. Now lets see where we are." Suzi said and seconds later had a Lopmon's head appearing on the screen a fair distance away from the other two heads. "Well then I guess we're heading for them and hopefully we'll find Jaarin along the way." Suzi decided as she closed the laptop and slid it back into her bag. "Ready to head out, Lopmon?"

"Whenever you are, Suzi." Lopmon said with a thumbs up. Now they were looking for another person but that was okay, they'd succeed. Only question was how grounded was Suzi going to be when they got home. If they got home.

"Lucky for us you're faster then any car." Suzi said with a big smile as she unhooked her D-Arc from her belt. "It's time to digivolve, Lopmon." 

Lopmon digivolve to Antylamon

"Okay Antylamon, let's burn fur." Suzi said with a smile grabbing onto one of the ears as her digimon bent her head down Suzi was lifted into the air and slid down to sit on her digimon's head. Getting a firm grip on the ear Suzi patted Antylamon on the head. "Let's go!" 

"I think I might have figured out what our mysterious speaker is, Rika." Renamon said as they sat down together in the meadow for a break. Rika had already filled up her canteen and was drinking down the fresh water which she quickly swallowed at Renamon's words.

"You do? What do you think it is, Renamon?" Rika asked as she ran her hand over her mouth.

"I think it might possible be a Kurokitsunmon." Renamon said with a considering look. "I've never seen one before but they are a mutated version of Renamons so that would explain Jaarin's comment that it looked just like me only different colours."

"A mutated version of you, what do you mean?" T.K. asked as he sat down with Alice at his heels and Patamon on his shoulder. The three had been getting their water and had come back just in time to hear Renamon's comment. Finally they might be able to know something about their constant shadow. 

"Well Kurokitsunmons are Renamons that were born with a slight data modification. It's so rare that even those in charge of watching the digimon nurseries often never see one. You can't even tell that they're not pure Renamon's until they reach rookie level, that's when they become Kurokitsunmons." Renamon said with a considering look. "They're said to be just like us only different attacks and enhanced abilities, hence the fact that we can never seem to track him down. Also legend even says that they can shift from one place to another over large distances which could explain its knowledge of everything that's going on around here and its ability to never get caught or seen."

"Sounds like a digimon you wouldn't want to mess with." Patamon agreed from T.K. shoulder. "Are they generally friendly digimon when people do see them?"

"I've never met anyone who's seen one but from what I've heard they tend to be loners and not at all friendly." Renamon said with a dark look. "Though I've got to admit that so far he seems to be more of a nuisance then a danger I still don't trust that his attention is solely for his own amusement."

Well that's it for now, please review and let me know what you think cause I'd love to hear from you. Thanks heaps and have a great day. Oh and if you forgot the digimon type Kurokitsunmon belongs to Silent Storm, I'm just borrowing the type from him. Thanks again for that handsome and talk to you later. 


	10. Lose Two, Find Two

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the plot, my characters and Silent Storm owns his digimon. To Sam quit fainting cause this is what you've been bugging me for. Hitomi No Ryu thank you for your suggestions but I'll stick with what I've got though thanx for going to the trouble of find that alternative. Also thanx to all those who have been reviewing, I do read every one and they're all appreciated.  
  
Lose Two, Find Two  
  
Things had been so boring until they'd showed up Kurokitsunmon thought to himself as he sat on the branch, his feet dangling under him. His favorite group had stopped for water again and so he amused himself by sitting nearby and listening to their conversations. A loner by nature as well as design he was un accustom to this need to be around these humans and while a part of him worried about that he forced it out of his mind, convincing himself that he was there only for the show. Rika hadn't hit the one called Davis yet and that was disappointing though she had used several four-letter words to describe him to T.K. who she was apparently encouraging to steal the one called Kari from the Gogglehead. Not that the one Kari would likely mind, the blonde one was obviously superior to gogglehead in all the ways that mattered in choosing a mate, not that he knew about that but listening to Rika talk about Ryo had given him an idea. A strange notion, binding oneself to a person for life, sounded boring and yet tantalizing, the idea of never being alone, of always having someone to cover ones back. Not that he needed anyone or help, but it was still an interesting idea. If Ryo and the rest of his bunch picked up speed the two groups should meet up sometime the next morning, what would that do to his entertainment? Then again they'd still have to find the girl who wore her fur in two bunches on the sides of her head, her and the Lopmon were still far enough away that the special ones would have to stay longer.  
  
"You know T.K., if you asked her out she'd be pretty stupid to say no, especially with Davis around as a visual of what she could end up with." Rika said with a smirk as splashed some water on her face, letting it fun down to soak her shirt. Wiping a hand over her eyes she looked over at T.K. who was looking non too convinced. "The worst that could happen is she says no, I bet Davis has asked her plenty of times and gotten the big NO. They're still friends though why anyone would want to be with that little ass is beyond me."  
  
"He's really not that bad once you get to know him and it's different, me asking her instead of him. He doesn't know Kari the way I do, he's put her on this pedestal and worships her, her rejections don't even sink through that thick skull of his. I've known Kari since I was a little kid, I know everything there is to know about her except what her answer would be." T.K. said as he placed his hat back on his head after dunking his head in some water. "If I ask and she says no then-then I don't know what I'd do."  
  
"And if she died today?" Renamon asked in a quiet voice. "Then she would die thinking that you didn't care about her as much as she does."  
  
"You and Kari have something, T.K.. Something Rika and Ryo have that's really rare. You just fit and God doesn't send you someone like that everyday. Like the Chinese proverb says, the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and wonderful of all. In other words you don't find a girl like that every dynasty." Alice said as she slugged an arm over T.K.'s shoulder, grinning at the way his face went red. "So go get her, kiddo."  
  
"If she turns me down flat I'm moving in with you guys and making you as miserable as I'll be." T.K. said with a sigh, knowing that they were right and hating the fact. "I'll ask her out."  
  
"Well there she is, do it before you lose your nerve or come up with another excuse, Alice and I are running out of ideas here." Rika said as she gave him a slight push in Kari's direction, the girl in question sitting on some rocks while she talked to her digimon.  
  
Giving them a look T.K. looked at Kari and taking a deep breath walked towards her, feeling a lot like a lamb being led to the slaughter. Not that Kari would be cruel when she turned him down but T.K. had a feeling that if she did say no it was going to take a lot of time to get over it. He'd dated other girls to try to forget his not platonic at all feelings for her and that hadn't worked. He'd encouraged her to date other guys and had only ended up wanting to blast them all to kingdom come. But the alternative was that she'd say yes, that was worth the risk, wasn't it? "Ah, Kari?" T.K. asked as he stood in front of her, looking into her beautiful eyes which was a big mistake since now he couldn't even remember one if the speeches he'd come up with in his head over the years. "Got a minute?"  
  
"Sure, T.K., what's up?" Kari said as she smiled at him shyly, her canteen forgotten in her hand.  
  
"Well I was wondering if maybe you might wanna go to a movie or something when we get back." T.K. blurted out and then could have kicked himself. Got to be more specific pal or she'll think your asking her as a friend. "Like just us."  
  
"Yeah, sure T.K.. Sounds like fun." Kari said with a smile and T.K. wasn't sure that she entirely realized what he was aiming for here. God why couldn't it be the girl's responsibility to do the asking? They were so much better at words then guys were.  
  
"I mean like on a date, Kari." T.K. said quietly and watching her eyes go huge confirmed that she hadn't realized that that was his intentions. "If you don't want to that's okay too, I'll understand and it won't change anything cause you're my best friend Kari and I'd rather be your friend then anything so if you're not interested that's fine and I won't bother you about it ever again. In fact forget I asked, I should be going back to make sure-ah-that-Patamon's okay." T.K. rambled backing up with each word, his heart beating like a drum.  
  
"I'd still like to go, T.K." Kari said quickly before he could continue and looking at her again T.K. was surprised to see a fine blush on her cheeks. "If you still want to that is."  
  
"You-you would?" T.K. said in amazement as he stared at her as though he'd never seen her before in his life. "You'll go out with me?" When she nodded her head shyly the biggest smile ever came over T.K.'s face and with a war whoop he pulled her off the rock and spun her around in a circle before realizing what he'd just done. "Sorry." T.K. said as a fine blush came over his cheeks. "So do you want to walk together then?"  
  
"Yeah." Kari said with a blush of her own as she slipped he hand into his, red in the face but smiling widely.  
  
"Well its about time." Gatomon said with a role of her eyes as she hopped off the rock and headed towards the stream they'd stopped at to tell Patamon that the two idiots had finally clued in and were going out. "Took them long enough too."  
  
"What I want to know is how the girls managed to get here, we barely managed to get you here." Izzy said as he paced, his mind running a mile a minute. "You said this Alice was a hacker, would you say that she's skilled enough to pull something like that off? Whatever that thing is he could have just been playing with us, letting us think he was telling the truth."  
  
"If anyone could do it, it would be Alice, especially if she had help from Suzi." Ryo said as he rubbed the back of his neck as his own mind struggled to process everything. What if it was true and Rika and Alice were here with the others, what kind of danger could they be in with him to far away to help them. Knowing Rika at the first sign of trouble she'd head straight for it as oppose to away from it, never mind the possible danger or consequences. Plus the voice had said that Suzi and Lopmon were separated from Rika and the others, what could happen to them with no one to back them up. They could be deleted and they'd never know. Plus who the hell was this T.K. guy and who did he think he was putting moves on his girl! Not that Rika would ever cheat on him Ryo assured himself but it was the principle of the thing.  
  
"Well for now I suppose that we'll just have to assume that he's telling the truth until we learn differently." Ken said with a sigh, all the complications that were building up weighing heavily on his shoulders. If anything happened to any of Ryo's friends it would be his fault for bring Ryo here in the first place. "Lets just hope that he finds them enough amusement to want to make sure they stay safe."  
  
"With Rika safe is not an option." Impmon said with a roll of his eyes. "If she doesn't find trouble she makes it."  
  
"Well we make pretty good matchmakers, huh, Rika?" Alice said the next morning as they walked beside each other, watching Kari and T.K. who were walking side by side, holding hands like the lovesick kids that they were.  
  
Rika smiled back, enjoying their success as well as experiencing her first twinge of pity for Davis. The kid was trailing behind the pair looking thoroughly dejected, obviously his chances with Kari had finally sunk in. Rika supposed that even dorks like him had feelings so she'd held her tongue and left him alone for the day, figuring that anything she said would be nothing in comparison. Poor idiot. "I suppose we do, but lets not try it again, it leads to headaches I don't need."  
  
"That it does." Alice agreed with a sigh. "So how you doing, Jaarin?" Alice added as she looking over to the girl who was on her other side. Jaarin looked worn out to Alice and Alice hoped that they found Suzi soon before Jaarin started to think the worst.  
  
"Well lets just say I'm feeling muscles I didn't even know I had." Jaarin said with a tight smile as she placed her hands on the small of her back. "And considering all the sports I've played that's saying a lot."  
  
"Hey Rika, you suppose we're going to run into Ryo and Impmon soon like that other digimon said? huh, do ya?" Calumon asked from Jaarin's backpack. He was alternating between walking and riding since his legs were so short and he couldn't keep up as good as the others.  
  
'I'm sure we will, Calumon." Rika said with a n encouraging smile, not wanting the small digimon to worry.  
  
"If Ryo hasn't killed Impmon that is." Renamon said dryly from Rika's side, a small smile of amusement on her face. All knowing the dislike that Ryo and Impmon bore each other none of them had a hard time picturing Ryo deleting the digimon to shut him up.  
  
"I wonder what that is?" Cody said suddenly as he pointed at something black that was whirling towards them quickly, like a tornado only not made out of wind.  
  
"Data Stream." Rika called out, recognizing it immediately though its color differed from the usual ones she saw in her own digital world. "Cody get away from it, now!"  
  
"CODY!" Tai yelled, it was too late, the stream had come to quickly and without warning. As quickly as it had appeared it disappeared with no sign of Cody or Armadillomon anywhere. "No! Cody!"  
  
This is really going to hurt Cody thought to himself as he and Armadillomon flew down towards the ground at a very high velocity. Of all the ways he'd figured to die he'd never pictured it being from falling like a rock from the sky after being picked up by something called a data stream. Struggling to get his eyes open he was aware of his digimon calling his name and reached out blindly, trying to find him. Hitting only air Cody finally succeeded in opening his eyes then wise he hadn't as he saw the ground rising up to meet them. Forcing his head to turn wit great effort he could make out a yellow blur, which he assumed, was his digimon. Yelling into the air to let his digimon know he was there Cody doubted that his partner could hear him and instead turned his attention to looking at his fate. As the ground came faster and faster Cody became aware of a white blur streaking across the green grass below but not really caring anymore Cody closed his eyes and sent up prayers to his family and hoped he'd die quickly. Seconds later he landed with a thud, still fully conscious and pretty sure that whatever he'd landed on wasn't grass. Opening his eyes Cody looked down then up.  
  
"Nice of you to drop in." Antylamon said with a smile as she looked at the boy who was gapping up at her in surprise. "Suzi, did you grab the other one?"  
  
"Yup, but he's in his shell and I'm not sure if he's okay or not." Suzi called out from on top of her digimon's head. They'd seen the two figures hurling down from the sky and instinct had led them to try and catch the two objects, which they had succeeded in doing. "What kind of digimon is yours?"  
  
"He's not a digimon." Antylamon informed her tamer then lifting her hand up lifted Cody so that he was level with Suzi who smiled at him widely, glad to see another human face.  
  
"Hi! Is this your digimon? Are you okay?" Suzi asked brightly thinking that the boy was her age and really cute. Too bad he lived in this world and not hers.  
  
"Ah yeah, Armadillomon's mine." Cody said as he rubbed his head then stared at her again. wondering if he'd died and gone to heaven without even realizing it. She was pretty enough to be an angel but he'd never figured that an Antylamon and an angel that didn't look to be older then himself would watch the gates of heaven. "Am I dead?"  
  
"Well I don't think so, otherwise I'd have to be dead too and last time I checked I was very much alive. I'm Suzi by the way, Suzi Wong and this digimon is my partner Antylamon or Lopmon in her rookie form. And you are?"  
  
"My name's Cody, Cody Lori. Wait a minute, are you Jaarin's sister?" Cody said as his head came up sharply, his eyes alert and alive as he finally made the possible connection  
  
"Yeah, you know my sister? Have you seen her?" Suzi asked eagerly, her whole facing lighting up with hope.  
  
"Yeah I have, I was with them before something called a data stream picked Armadillomon and I up and deposited us several stories above the ground." Cody said, pleased that his answer made her happy. "We've been looking all over for you, we were looking when I got sucked up."  
  
"And she's okay, she wasn't hurt or anything?" Suzi asked quickly, liking this messenger from the sky more and more.  
  
"Yeah, she's fine. Rika and Alice are taking good care of her." Cody said with a smile then felt his eyes go as wide as saucers when the girl suddenly jumped off her digimon's head and caught him up in a big hug, squeezing him so that he had trouble breathing though that might have been caused by the fact that he was being hugged by a beautiful girl as oppose to the actual strength of her hold.  
  
"She's okay and she's with the others, boy am I ever glad we caught you. Literally." Suzi said as she pulled back and kissed him on the cheek, giggling when his face went as red as a cherry. "Well luckily that's the way I was headed so do you want a ride?" When all he could do was nod dumbly at her Suzi laughed again and dragged him onto Antylamon's head, her hand tightly in his. "Better grab hold of your digimon cause Antylamon makes cars seem like snails." Seconds later, once he'd regained his senses Cody had to agree with her.  
  
"So these data streams pick things up and deposit whatever they've collected anywhere in the Digital World?" Tai asked as they continued to walk, no one really talking as they listened for an explanation as to where their friend might be.  
  
:That's the way it works, you usually have more warning though and they tend to be a pink color as oppose to black but I figure its the same thing." Alice said with a pained look, wishing that she could be more help. She'd liked Cody and hoped that whereever the stupid stream had dropped him that he was all right.  
  
"Maybe the fox will come back and tell us where he is." Mikey suggested hopefully from Tai's back where he was riding, too tired to walk anymore.  
  
"Maybe he will." Kari agreed with a smile for the youngest member of their group though it was more then a little forced. "I'm sure he and Armadillomon are safe and that everything's going to be all right, Mikey."  
  
"I smell something." Renamon said suddenly as she halted, raising her head and closing her eyes as she concentrated on the faint smell that had hit her nose moments before. "People and some digimon are coming this way, I recognize the scent of one of them very well." Renamon added with a smile as she looked pointedly at Rika.  
  
"Is it him, Renamon?" Rika asked as a slow smile came over her features as Renamon nodded her head in confirmation.  
  
"Is it who?" Yolei demanded to know, on better terms with the redhead but not by much. Plus the digimon had said people, which people?  
  
"Ryo." Rika said then taking out two card from her deck Rika grinned widely. "Well then lets go and kick some asshole butt shall we?" Rika added as she looked over at Alice who nodded her head as she took out some cards of Ryo's from the pouch. Cyberdramon had gone out scouting but he'd promised to be back any time now and would likely come to their call immediately if they yelled for him loud enough given his superior hearing. "Jaarin, you and Calumon stay here while Alice and I go collecting."  
  
"Your boyfriend?" T.K. asked as he caught on quickly, understanding that the girls were obviously expecting a fight. "Patamon and I will come to help if you want."  
  
"Thanks but there's no need for that." Alice said with a huge smile as she pointed out to the horizon. "Look."  
  
"Ryo." Rika breathed as she watched Cyberdramon fly towards them with two very familiar figures on his back. Walking forward then picking up speed Rika was practically running when Cyberdramon hit the ground with a thud, Ryo and Impmon both jumping off and with a grin Rika threw herself at her boyfriend who held her tightly against him.  
  
"Well you're a sight for sore eyes, Wildcat." Ryo said as he pressed a kiss to her temple before burrowing his head inn her hair, so relieved that she was okay and in one piece. Cyberdramon had said she was okay but his definition of okay and Cyberdramon's tended to vary a great deal.  
  
"How did you get away, we didn't hear the sound of Cyberdramon blowing anyone up." Rika asked as she drew away, a happy smile on her face, as she looked him over for signs of damage.  
  
"I was never in any danger, Rika. The guys who brought me here are friends of mine. There was no need to worry." Ryo said tenderly then looked at her in surprise as her face went from happy to see you to her your dead meat mister look. "Rika, what's wrong?"  
  
"Do you mean to tell me that I risked my life, Renamon's and Alice's to get here, put up with that idiotic moron and Yolei for nothing? You mean to tell me that all this time I've been picturing you somewhere hurt or in danger and you were hanging out with the guys as fine as can be!" Rika said, her eyes flashing molten flames as her hands fisted at her side and her voice rose with every word. "Do you mean to tell me that this was all for nothing!"  
  
"Not for nothing." Ryo said as he lifted his hands in front of him in defence. "And I didn't know I was going to be transported here, otherwise I would have told you about it first and brought Cyberdramon instead of Impmon."  
  
"Oh and that just makes it all right you asshole Pretty Boy." Rika said as she drew back her fist and nailed him in the jaw, sending him flying backwards and into the dirt. "I otta kick your ass and you are damn lucky I like you or I'd break you in several pieces for everything I've had to put up with in the last few days."  
  
"Yeah, I love you too." Ryo said as he got to his feet, dusting them off with an absent hand while his other rubbed his jaw where she'd nailed him. "Damn but I missed you, Wildcat. Even you yelling at me, which just goes to show how, messed up I really am. By the way, who the hell is T.K.?" 


	11. Together With Friends

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but my original creations and the plot. Thanks to all those who have been reviewing and I'm sorry this took me so long. =)  
  
Together with Friends  
  
"Ah, that would be me, or at least my name is T.K. ." T.K. said in a hesitant voice, how did this guy know his name and why did he have the feeling that the fact that he did know his name was a bad thing. A very bad thing. "Out of curiosity how do you know my name and why do I get the feeling that you knowing it isn't exactly a good thing?"  
  
Not answering Ryo looked the kid over then drawing the conclusion that there was no way that his girlfriend could be interested in the kid grinned as he moved to stand beside Rika, wrapping an arm casually around her waist. Looks like the strange digimon had just been pulling his chain and there had been no reason to worry. He suppoused that some girls might have found the other guy attractive but he looked too much like Takato around the edges. Too nice and goody goody. Not Rika's type at all. "We met up with a digimon who seemed to feel it was its duty to taunt me with the fact that Alice and Rika were here, he mentioned your name while he was at it and I was curious. Hi you guys by the way." Ryo added as he smiled at the other people and digimon from his world, having sudden;y remembered that they too had sacraficed and risked a lot to come here and help him out even though there had been no need to do so. "So is it true that Suzi is here somewhere with Lopmon? And not with you guys or was the annoying bugger just playing with my head again?"  
  
"No, it was lying and we've lost a kid by the name of Cody too, he got sucked into a data stream along with his digimon before we could get to him." Alice said with a small frown as what she was talking about wasn't a smiling matter even though they had found Ryo and Impmon which was a good thing. They'd found the two inidivduals they had been looking for but now they were looking for four individuals and that was not good. Two had been bad enough but four was mind boggling considering the fact that they could be anywhere, not even necessarily with their partners. "He and his digimon were with these guys who we tagged to get us here earlier, they've been helping us look for Suzi and Lopmon, now we're looking for them plus the other two."  
  
"Then I owe them big time for getting you guys here safely. Cody...not Ken's friend Cody? Around Suzi's age with dark features and really quiet?" Ryo said as he looked over at the group questioningly. Both Izzy and Ken had mentioned a kid named Cody that they hung out with and had an Armadillomon. Ken had shown him a picture as well and the kid had looked like a nice guy, Ken and Izzy obviously liked him.  
  
"You know Ken?" Yolei blurted out as she stepped forward, unsure but wanting to be heard. She'd remained silent up until then out of shock of the events of the last 12 hours which were more then catching up with them. First they find some friends of the annoying girls they'd picked up who admittedly were nice enough even though Calumon tended to wear you out quickly with his constant chatter and games. Then they'd lost Cody and Armadillomon to something called a data stream. Then they'd apparently found Rika's boyfriend along with a purple digimon and now it would appear that the annoying redhead's boyfriend knew her boyfriend. This was all so confusing and her head spun with all the different things it was trying to process at once.  
  
"Yeah, he and that other annoy jerk friend of his got us transported here." Impmon said as he came very close to snuggling into Rika's leg so happy was he to see her and know that he wasn't going to have to spend the rest of his life with the pretty boy. His arms wrapped around her lower leg he looked up at her pathetically. "Boy am I glad we found you Rika, Pretty Boy was getting so annoying I considered incinerating him too many times to count. This whole thing is his and his stupid friends' faults."  
  
"Thanks for not doing that, Impmon. I would have been very upset with you had you lit then on fire with one of your fireballs" Rika said with a smirk as she looked down at the digimon with a mixture of amusement, exasperation and affection. She'd bet a lot of money that Impmon and Ryo had had a very stress filled time since they'd arrived here together without her or any of the other Tamers to play referee. Especially since the two got on each others nerves more easily the Kazu shot off his mouth. In other words it happened as constantly as the sun rose and set.  
  
Alice smirked, she rather pitied Ryo's friends, odds were Impmon had been a royal pain in the ass this entire time and probably had all been wanting to wring the digimon's little neck. She could think of plenty of instances when she'd wanted to do it herself. Mostly the small digimon was okay but he had an ego the size of the galaxy anda tendency to show off that was very grating on the nerves.  
  
"You're lucky I didn't ask one of the guys to delete you. I think deletion would have almost been preferable to spending another day listening to you whine and complain." Ryo said with a dark look at the digimon who was hanging off of his girlfriend like a limpet. He hated when the annoying idiot did that, run to Rika like a child to its mother for protection. Some big bad digimon he was Ryo thought with a smirk. "And yeah I know a guy named Ken, he's about ten minutes from here at the moment with Izzy and their digimon. Are you, Yolei?"  
  
"Yes, that's me." Yolei said with a quick nod in his direction as she smiled at him uncertainly. She wasn't quite sure whether she liked him or not since he seemed like a nice guy but he was with Rika which made her question the guy's sanity. Big time.  
  
"Ken's told me a lot about you." Ryo said with a smile for his friend's girlfriend who was quite pretty with her purple hair and pretty eyes behind her glasses. Well at least she and Rika didn't appear to be at each other's throats at the moment. That was a good thing. "It's nice to meet you."  
  
"I don't know why those two don't get along." Calumon asked in a puzzled tone from Jaarin's feet as he looked at Ryo and Impmon with a puzzled look on his face. Those two fought like cats and dogs and Henry said it was cause they were fighting over Rika but why would they fight over her? She liked them both and they were both really nice to her so why would they feel they needed to dislike each other? It just didn't make sense to him.  
  
"My brother is that close? Don't worry Jaarin, I'm sure that he can help us find your sister and Cody." Mickey beamed as he vibrated with happiness at the thought that everything was going to be all right soon. Everything was going to be all right now that Izzy was there, he was sure to be able to find them.  
  
"Yeah, with Izzy and Alice we can't not find them." Tai said with an encouraging look and a thumbs up in Jaarin's direction as he came to a stop beside her, placing a friendly and reassuring hand on her shoulder. "And that's not even counting what our digimon are capable of doing. No worries."  
  
"I'm sure you're right, Mickey, Tai." Jaarin said with a bright smile that was just slight frayed around the edges. Ever minute she didn't know where Suzi and Lopmon were felt like an eternity. "It's good to see you too, Ryo." Jaarin added as an after thought. "And I guess like Terriermon is always saying I need to Momenti."  
  
"Same, Jaarin." Ryo said with a nod in her direction, seeing how distraught she was even though she was trying to hide it. Poor Henry must be going out of his mind worrying about everyone Ryo thought with a slight wince. And even though he hadn't asked to be brought here he still felt guilty over it. "They'll be on there way here on foot, lets go meet them and then we'll figure out how to find everyone as quickly as possible. With all of us working together I'm sure we can figure something out."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure that it will prove no great difficulty." Renamon agreed with a nod of her head. "I'm sure that we'll find them shortly. In the mean time we shouldn't worry, we have no reason to as of yet."  
  
In another part of the Digital World  
  
"So Cody, do you have a girlfriend?" Suzi asked brightly as they continued to speed off in the direction her lap top was indicating Rika and hopefully the rest were. And the way she figured it they deserved a break or two. They'd been together for nearly a half an hour and he wasn't very talkative and she was starting to run out of things to ask him. He was a really nice guy, it was too bad that he didn't live in her dimension.  
  
"Me? Ah no, I don't have a girlfriend." Cody said as he blushed a rather interesting shade of red at the innocent question. What was with all the beautiful girls that were showing up out of nowhere? First Rika and Alice, then Jaarin and now Jaarin's sister. It was like it was raining angels all of a sudden. "You have a boyfriend, right?" Cody said with a sigh, no one this cute and nice could not have one.  
  
"Me? Oh I don't have a boyfriend." Suzi said with a bright smile as she shook her head at his question. "My brothers would scare him off in a second and well there are lots of great guys at my school but there usually afraid of Rika and what she'd do to them. Rika's a really good friend of the family's and she let it be known that she'll break any guy who tries to pull a move on me. But I figure that's okay cause any guy who could be scared off by my siblings and friends isn't worth my time. I'll just wait around for a guy that can stand up to them and then I'll know he's for me. After all who wants a coward for a boyfriend right? I'm surprised you don't have a girlfriend, you're really nice and cute."  
  
Cody figured that he deserved a medal for not falling off her digimon when she said that. She thought he was nice and cute. His blood pressure reaching rather astronomical heights Cody could only gap at her in complete and other shock as he turned a rather scary fire engine red in the face. He looked like he was going to keel over at any moment.  
  
"Better close you're mouth Cody before you swallow something." Armadillomon said with a chuckle as he smiled at his partner. Poor kid, wasn't use to this at all and wasn't doing too well either. Worse then T.K. And Kari and all the skirting around they did or had done. "So how long should it take us to get to our friends, Suzi?"  
  
"Well that will all depend on them and how long Antylamon can hold up this pace." Suzi said with a shrug, blushing slight because she was pretty sure that she'd caused Cody to take on the look of a really over ripe tomato. "Our friends will be moving around and if a data stream or something picks them up or something like that happens who knows. We can just hope that everything works out okay."  
  
"I'm-I'm sure it will, Suzi." Cody finally managed as his blush reduced for bright red to a dull pink for the time being. "I mean I know that they're looking for us and I know that they won't give up until they find us."  
  
"I know that." Suzi said as she beamed at him. He was so sweet to try and cheer her up, what a nice guy. "Rika and Alice, not to mention my sister who will be worse then both of them put together would never stop looking for me, even if the odds were almost zero of ever finding me. I'm not worried in the slightest about that. I'm just worried that they might need me and I won't be there to help them." Suzi said with a slight worried half smile. "I may not look it but we Wong's are pretty tough and can kick some serious butt when necessary. I'm just worried they might get into a situation they can't handle by themselves."  
  
"Well my friends would never stand by and let any of your friends or your sister get hurt so don't worry about it, Suzi." Cody said reassuringly as he placed a hand on her shoulder as they continued to run through a nice stretch of meadow. Of course Yolei might he added mentally but the others at least would help out. "And they aren't exactly weak, I'm sure that with their help it wouldn't matter what they came up against, they'd win no problem."  
  
"Well if they're your friends I'm sure that they're great and I have nothing to worry about." Suzi said as she smiled at him more brightly. "You know you remind me of my brother Henry, I bet you and him would get along really well if you guys ever meet. You're both really good at school and like karate and that kind of stuff. Plus he's really quiet too and since you don't talk much either you wouldn't annoy him the way my friend Kasumi does. She's a real chatterbox, worse then me."  
  
Well since she'd stated that her brother had the tendency to hurt anyone who was interested in his sister Cody doubted very much that Henry would be thrilled to meet him. There was just something about her Cody thought as he watched her out of the corner of her eye. It was her smile that really got you, it was so cheerful and warm. Even if she wasn't so pretty with that smile she likely attracted guys like bees to honey. Not that he'd ever stand a chance with a girl like her but there was no harm in dreaming. Guys like Matt, Tai and T.K. Got girls like her but it was nice to talk with her and pretend that he could stand a chance. "I'm sure I'd like him, Suzi." Cody said with a quiet smile, pretty sure that his face had finally gone back to its normal color.  
  
Meanwhile  
  
Kurokitsunmon watched the little digimons playing and smirked slightly as he watched their antics. He'd come here to get away from those humans, they were becoming almost an obsession and the idea bothered him like nothing before it. Therefore he'd deliberately left them alone and yet here he was itching to go back and see what they were doing. It was like he was a puppet and they had his strings. They pulled him to them and he was becoming increasingly unable to pull back. What was it that they had that made him seek them as a starved digimon hunted for food to quench its hunger. Especially the one called Alice, what was it about her especially that set her apart from the others? Feh, this had to end and it would end here. He'd avoid them from now on and their paths would never cross again. Somehow he would rid himself of this affliction, he would find a way, he had to. 


	12. When Izzy Met Alice

Disclaimer: As always I am sorry for the delay in this fic, school, life and writer's block for this fic r only a few of the reasons.  Anyway I hope you enjoy and please review so I know what you think of it and that it's still being red.

When Izzy met Alice

Before anyone else could say a word Mikey broke out in a shout as he pointed in the direct that Ryo, Cyberdramon and Impmon had come from.  Everyone looking over they saw two figures flying towards them on very familiar digimon.  All the digidestined hollering and waving to get the boys' attention the Tamers and their digimon stood off to the side to watch and talk among themselves.  By the time the two digimon with Ken and Izzy had landed the Tamers and Jaarin had caught each other up on what had been happening on both sides and were trying to figure out what to do about Suzy and Lopmon.

"Ken!" Yolei yelled as soon as his feet touched the ground, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly so that the boy's face went a lovely shade of bright pink much to the delight of everyone who jumped to point it out only making the poor guy's face go brighter.

"Izzy!" Mikey called out too as he pulled away from Jaarin's side and ran over to his brother who caught him and swung him up into a big hug, pleased to see his brother.

"What on earth are you doing here, Mikey?  Why did you guys bring him?" Izzy asked as he set his brother down, looking at his friends questioningly as he kept a hand on his little brother's shoulder.  The Digital World wasn't a playground and who knew what trouble Mikey could have gotten into, especially without a digimon to guide and protect him.  "Hey, Ryo.  You okay?" Izzy said as he looked over towards where the man was standing then simply stopped and stared at the vision in front of him.  He had visualized meeting her so many times..and now there she was...but it couldn't be her-but she looked just like the picture she'd sent him before their meeting, the picture he still had on his lap top.  Could it be her?  "A-Alice?" Izzy asked hesitantly as he let go of his brother and walked towards her looking as shocked as the Digidestined who knew it was Alice and were wondering why on earth Izzy was looking at the weird girl that way and how they knew each other.

"Hey Izzy, long time no chat." Alice said holding her cool by a thread.  Her blonde ponytail blowing in the breeze her cool blue eyes never left him as she tried to think of what to say, her words having deserted her.  She'd often imagined meeting him, what she'd do to him for treating her so badly and hurting her.  But it looked like they could have quite possibly stood each other up, neither intending to do it either.

"What are you doing here?  How did you get here? "  Izzy said as he could only stare at her like a moron, finally coming to a stop about a meter or so away from her since she had walked slightly away from the people she had been speaking with to meet him part way.  Gee and of course he would have to look like something the cat dragged in, Izzy thought with mental disgust.  At least he'd shaved that morning but odds were his clothes were fairly dirty and knowing his hair it was sticking out all over the place like it had as a kid.  Figured.  "I just-I never thought-I never really expected to see you..ever."

"Yeah well I wasn't exactly expecting to see you either." Alice said with a touch of amusement in her eyes now.  "And odds were that we would never have met if you hadn't decided to take Ryo and bring him here without asking first." Alice said as she motioned in Ryo's direction with a movement of her head in his direction.  

Looking over at Ryo Izzy felt his heart drop and the stupid idea that she'd somehow decided that she'd been wrong not to meet him and had come looking for him.  Yeah right, who would when there were Ryos in the world to sigh over Izzy thought darkly then with a puzzled air as he noticed that Ryo had an arm wrapped around a tall girl's waist and Ryo had said his girlfriend's name was Rika, not Alice.  But then maybe Ryo had been playing them, or Alice liked the man but he was taken.  Then he stopped to think that none of that made sense.  "I'm confused." Izzy said raking fingers through his already mussed up hair so that it stuck out all over the place as was its habit.

Alice smirked slightly at how cute that made him look then ordered herself to get serious and stop acting like Suzy.  Of course she'd been this nervous the first time, when she and Izzy had made plans to meet up for the first time.  When he had stood her up it had hurt her a lot and she wasn't about to let emotion rear its ugly head till she was sure that he hadn't stood her up that day.  "I'm from the world you snatched Ryo from; you're from this one aren't you?"

"Well of course I-wait a minute..you're from that layer of the Real World?" Izzy said as he gasped at her, completely forgetting that they now had the attention of everyone and that his brother was just behind his brother trying to figure out what was going on and why his brother was acting so nervous.  "But then how did we?" Izzy asked with a confused look.

"I think that perhaps when we were both experimenting online we must have found some sort of connect between our worlds of some sort or one of us broke into the system of the others." Alice said with just a hint of excitement, the idea thrilling. "I think I might have done it because after I deleted your name I tried to find you again a month or so later and I couldn't find the chat room we met in much less you."

"Fascinating, I knew that all the worlds were likely connected somehow and this proves it." Izzy said with a excitement.  "I've always thought that the Digital World was in layers which explained why there are always new areas to be discovered and that appear.  I've often wondered if perhaps the Digital Worlds all connect-but wait a minute..if you're from another reality then that would mean.." Izzy said as he stared at her, ideas running through his head so fast it was almost possible to see the gears moving as he processed all the information he'd been given.  "That we could never have met, that even if we'd tried we wouldn't have been able to meet anywhere since our worlds are two different worlds."

"That's what I've recently figured out, so odds are you were waiting for me?  While I was waiting for you?" Alice said hesitantly then smiled slightly when a large grin split Izzy's face as he looked at her as though he'd just been told he'd won the lottery.

"You-you didn't stand me up." Izzy managed to say finally, grinning so hard it was a wonder that his face didn't shatter as he fought the urge to run over and hug her which would only embarrass them both  and slowly he became aware of quite a few eyes on them.  Turning his head he saw all his friends gapping at him as though he'd suddenly grown another head.  Ignoring them with effort Izzy moved closer so that there was only a foot between them.  "I waited for you for four hours." Izzy finally admitted with a twinge of pink to his cheeks as he spoke low enough that only she would have been able to hear him.

"I waited five; I figured you'd gotten distracted with your computers." Alice said with a small smile as her cheeks went just a little bit pink as well as she looked into his dark eyes.  Sighing Alice lifted her right hand to him.  'Nice to finally meet you, Digidestined."

"Same to you, Angel." Izzy said as he took her small hand in his and shook it, the two saying a lot more with their eyes.

An hour later

"Well that was an unexpected development." Ryo said with a wide grin as he walked beside Rika as the getting bigger by the minute group of Tamers and Digidestined walked on to find their missing people.  Looking over out of the corner of his eye he smiled at the sight of Izzy and Alice with their heads practically together talking about computers and other things he didn't understand and that they really only seemed to understand.  They had started out a little awkward but now they were near as thick as thieves though he'd bet once they started talking about something other then computers and such they'd go back to blushing and stammering.  It was rather cute Ryo thought as he deliberately caught Rika's nearest hand in his and smiled innocently at her when she shot him a dry look though she let him keep hold of the hand.

"You're telling me." Rika said as she shook her head at the way things were going, slightly embarrassed to being seen holding hands but she liked it too so she left it there.  Not that she would ever admit that she liked it but that was to be expected.  She had a reputation as an ass kicker to keep up after all.  "Now I see why she was so upset when she recognized who had created whatever it was that brought you here."

"They look so cute together." Jaarin said with a wide smile as she walked on the other side of Ryo, a slumbering Calumon in her arms.  The little guy had finally run out of his usually countless energy and was now happily curled up in her arms, dreaming dreams that were likely as bizarre and entertaining as he was.  "But what's going to happen when we get back?" Jaarin added with a worried look, not liking the idea of Alice being hurt.

"Well knowing those two they'll think of some way to keep in contact." Rika pointed out though she was a tad worried herself.  But she had faith in the two computer geeks and if anyone could do it she had a feeling it was those two.

"Wow, he really likes her." Tai said as he shook his head in amazement at his friend.  Normally Izzy tended to stutter around pretty girls or be really quiet.  But right now Izzy was talking more then he'd ever seen him and seemed to be having the time of his life-with a pretty girl at his side.  Who would have thought it Tai thought with a wide grin and was glad for his friend.  "This is great."

"What it is weird." Ken said with a small smile as he walked with Yolei's hand tightly in his and Wormon on his other shoulder.  "Izzy mentioned her while we were camping out and Ryo mentioned Alice but we never even thought to make the connection."

"Well she definitely suits him, that's for sure." T.K. said with a grin as he walked between Yolei and Kari, Mikey resting comfortably on his shoulders.  "Normally a girl that pretty showing him any attention would have sent him running or at the very least stammering every other sentence out of his mouth while he looked everywhere else but at her."

"Yeah, if only Mimi could see this, she's always lecturing him and groaning over the fact that she can't get him to go out with a girl willingly." Kari said with a laugh as she smiled happily as they continued to walk without stopping.  Several of their digimon had gone ahead to scan the area for Cody and Suzy and so they had all taken a break from making themselves hoarse calling for them.  "And she really seems to understand him."

"The language of the computer geek, the language no one that isn't a genius can understand." Tai said with a laugh as stretched his arms over his head, getting more then a little sore with all this exercise but this was also turning into quite an adventure and he was having a lot of fun.  It would be better if they weren't looking for their missing friends, that was more then a small worry but he was sure they'd find them in no time.  At least he hoped so for everyone's sake.

Meanwhile

"So then Rika tackled Takato and they both went down but they landed wrong and ended up rolling down the hill and right into a gigantic mud puddle, I mean they were covered from head to toe." Suzy said as she cracked up just thinking about it.  "So anyway we're all laughing and then Henry and Kenta offer them a hand up.  Well Takato and Rika just looked at each other then taking their hands pulled them face first into the mud with them.  So then we're laughing even harder and then they start hurling mud at us and needless to say by the end we were all covered in mud but boy was that a lot of fun."

"I'll bet." Cody said with a smile as they sat under a tree munching on some fruit their digimon had managed to find for them.  Both Armadillomon and Lopmon were fast asleep beside their partners and the two were being as cute as possible as they let their digimon rest up.  "A lot of my friends play soccer and there was this big game coming up so they roped us into a game to help them practice.  It had rained the night before so the field was all muddy and everything put we played anyway and we were so bad Kazuyuki's mom took the hose to us before she'd even let us in the house."

"I'll bet." Suzy said with a laugh as she pictured what they must have all looked liked coming in after playing in the mud for over an hour.  "But sometimes you have to get a little messy."

"Yeah I guess so." Cody agreed as he leaned back against the tree, thinking that if it weren't for the fact that they were out in the middle of nowhere with no idea if they'd ever see any or their friends or family again this would be really nice.  Of course he was alone Cody reminded himself as he set a hand on top of his digimon's hard head, grinning slightly when the digimon shifted under his hand.  Plus he had Suzy and Lopmon to keep him company too and that was certainly no hardship.  Suzy's digimon reminded him a lot of Kari in this form and Suzy was just great period.  Blushing ever so slightly at that Cody tipped his head up to look at the leafy branches of the tree instead of at her.  

Humming under her breath Suzy wondered absently if she was going to end up stuck here for the rest of her life.  Even if they did manage to find everyone there was no guarantees that they could get themselves back to their Real World.  It wouldn't be all that bad since from what she understood it was the same as hers only it was missing some key elements.  Her family and friends.  Tearing up slightly she turned her head away so that Cody wouldn't notice, she was being a baby anyway and she didn't want him to see.

His ears catching a faint sound Cody looked over at Suzy in time to catch the sparkle of tears in her eyes before she turned her head so that he was now basically looking at the back of her head instead of the front which was what interested him.  "Suzy? you okay?" Cody asked hesitantly.  He really had no experience in these kind of situations but he was pretty sure ignoring it was not the thing to do.  Maybe he should pat her on the shoulder of something.

"Oh Cody." Suzy said as she turned to look at him and before he knew what hit him she'd basically jumped into his lap and was hugging him tightly, her wet face pressed against his neck.  "What if I never find my sister, or what if we do but we can't get home again.  What'll we do?" Suzy sobbed into his neck, holding on tightly though a small corner of her brain was frankly horrified with what she was doing.  However the feat outweighed the embarrassment at the moment.

"Don't cry, Suzy, it will all work out.  You'll see everything will be fine." Cody said as he hugged her not really knowing what else to say as his face went the color of a tomato.

"Suzy?" Lopmon's sleepy voice rang out as she rubbed away the sleepiness to find Suzy crying and Cody trying to make the effort to comfort her while going as red as Guilmon.  Rushing over to her Tamer's side with her ears flying out behind her Lopmon tugged on Suzy's shirt, asking her what was wrong.

Pulling away slightly from Cody Suzy could just cry and reaching out picked up her digimon and hugged the bunny like she was a stuffed animal as she continued to sit on Cody's lap, snuggled against him as she cradled Lopmon.

Elsewhere

Kurokitsunmon hopped from tree to tree, not really caring overly where he was going as he made his way through the forest.  Suddenly a scent caught his nose and stopping at the top of a large pine he breathed in deeply, his almond shaped eyes going wide when he realized what it was he was smelling.  The humans were about to get in a serious amount of trouble the fox thought as he stood there, fighting his instincts and losing the battle.  He would simply go to watch, it wasn't like he was going to help them or anything. 


	13. Instincts and Values

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the plot and the original characters cept for Kurokitsunmon who belongs to my friend handsome. Anyway I know this has been a long time coming but I've lost interest in Digimon to a large extent and have turned my attention to more my age appropriate manga/anime you could say. Therefore I intend to end this sooner rather then later and I hope you aren't too mad. For those who read There For You I will be continuing with that one to an extent as it is the more popular of the two and I still have some drive to play with it. Again sorry and hope you enjoy this latest chapter. 

Instincts and Values 

"Thanks, Cody. I feel really better now." Suzy said with a forced smile as she snuggled against his chest feeling remarkably better and safe, like as long as she remained where she was everything would be okay. Perhaps it was cowardly to block everything else out but at the moment she needed to pretend she and Cody and their digimon were the only ones there and that there was nothing wrong. A big stretch but she'd always had one hell of an imagination if she did say so herself. She wished Cody lived in her world and went to her school. He was so much better then the other boys at her school who would have patted her on the head then run away in fear of possible tears and clinging. 

"I'm glad." Cody managed to get out as he held her carefully as though she were made of fragile glass and might break at any moment if he wasn't careful. He'd never really held a girl before other then occasionally hugging a friend or a member of his family. But he'd never had anyone but his small cousins in his lap and even that was rare because they were always moving and not cuddling against him. But it was rather nice having Suzy in his lap. He liked the way she was snuggled against him, trusting him to take care of her. It made him feel good, like he was her hero and that she trusted him enough to put her faith in him. Speaking of which he needed to reassure her, her voice was still a little too shaky for his liking. "And everything will turn out all right, Suzy. I'm sure of it. We just have to believe it, do our best to make sure that we don't give up until we succeed. Maybe things won't go exactly the way we want but as long as we do our best that's what matters. We work together there's nothing we can't do..well besides get Kari and T.K. together because everyone but Davis has been trying to do that for years with no luck" Cody said with a chuckle, pleased when she laughed along with him. 

) 

"You're absolutely right that we'll get out of this and you just let me at this T.K. And Kari and I'll show you how real matchmaking is done. If they were meant to be together you can bet I can get them together no matter now shy or dense they are." Suzy said with a slight nod and a more genuine small smile as she cuddled her digimon against her much like a child would hold a teddy bear or stuffed animal. She was feeling better but she felt better with Cody and Lopmon there. And Cody's digimon of course who was currently sitting beside them with a concerned look on his cute face. Reaching out Suzy patted his head before continuing. "I'm glad that you dropped in, you two. I don't know what I would have done without you guys here to cheer me up." Turning in his lap she set Lopmon on the ground then wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a great big hug, laying her head on his shoulder contentedly. "Thanks, Cody." 

Speechless Cody returned the hug and tried not to think of how soft she was against him or how her hair smelled so nice. His arms shaking just a bit Cody wrapped his arms around her small waist and hugged her back. Watching them Armidillomon and Lopmon grinned at each other happily, both pleased with this turn of events as they high fived. 

) 

A Little Later 

Walking along hand in hand Suzy and Cody chatted about this and that while Lopmon and Armadillomon walked on the other sides of their partners. The two humans had decided that it had been time to give Antylamon a break and they didn't mind doing the walking even though it was a bit too warm out for comfort. Luckily they were both dressed for the warm weather and walking through the prairie like area Suzy would have given anything for a popsicle stand to appear out of nowhere. Well she'd rather her sister and the others pop out but a popsicle was a close second at the moment. They were both into the martial arts and shared similar taste in movies even though they didn't know any of the same movies so they had to tell each other about them which proved to be fun. 

) 

"So then anyway Mina up and castrates the bastard and then he goes "If that were permanent I'd be very upset." I laughed so hard I nearly dumped my pop all over my brother. But the best part was the parts with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Suzy said as she cracked up just thinking about the movie. "The movie may have been a bit weak in certain areas but it had some awesome liners that definitely made it worth the watching." 

"Obviously." Cody said with a chuckle as he listened to her tell him about a movie called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which sounded like a pretty good movie to him. It was too bad he'd never see it since it was from his world and not hers. But who knows maybe some day he could visit her world and see the movies she described and meet the people she'd told him so much about. He wanted to see if Calumon really was like a four year old in a half candy shop half toy store all the time and just how good Rika was with the digimon card game. He'd like to get cards for that matter and make his own deck, learn to play the game. Of course the odds of that happening were likely unbelievably low but there was nothing wrong with dreaming and hoping he would. 

"Hey, Armadillomon. Do you hear that?" Lopmon said after she'd circled around Suzy and Cody to Armadillomon's side as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. 

"Hmm, let's see." Armadillomon said as he stopped and placed his ear against the ground, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the vibrations of the earth while his other ear strained to hear any sound in the air. "Yeah I do..something big is coming and coming straight at us and fast. Hey, Cody, Suzy. Something is coming towards us and I have a real bad feeling in my gut about it." 

"How big are we talking about?" Cody demanded to know, squeezing Suzy's hand gently as he looked down at the two digimon getting a bad feeling in his own gut. 

"Really, really big." Lopmon said with her ears twitching as her senses went on over drive as the sounds got louder. "As in worth Bio-merging big, Suzy. Whatever it is it's powerful and I can sense its evilness even from here." 

"Bio-merge?" Cody asked as he looked over at Suzy questioningly. Lopmon had made this bio-merging thing sound like calling out the big guns. "Is that anything like combining two digimon together because I've only ever been able to do that with T.K.'s digimon. " 

"Well it's the merging of two beings but it's the merging of Tamer with her digimon meaning Lopmon and I becoming one person. It's very draining and dangerous so it's very rare that we have to do it. When were combined into Flurmon we could both be deleted and every injury she sustains I sustain." Suzy said with a dead serious look on her face as she retrieved her D-Arc and reached into her pocket to pull out her cards. "If Lopmon says this digimon warrants the risk then that pretty much indicates we could and likely are in a hell of a lot of trouble if this thing is coming to pick a fight." Suzy added as she pulled out the card she needed, slipping the rest back into her pocket. 

"You can actually become a digimon? That's actually possible?" Cody said as he gapped at her in surprise before composing himself as a huge creature came into view, stomping towards them like a big, black storm cloud in the shape of an ogre type thing. "If we survive this you're going to have to tell me how that's possible." 

) 

"Will do. Lopmon, bio-merge activation." Suzy said as she raised the card above her head then with a sweeping gesture brought the card down and slid it through the D-Arc, a pink light appearing all around her as she and Lopmon merged into one. "Lopmon bio-merge to..Flurmon." When the light had dimmed there was a figure standing beside Cody that he'd never seen before. Standing at about five ft 10 now the figure had long brown hair to her waist with the top half of her face covered by a sort of brown and pink hat that resembled the top of Lopmon's head. The figure wore arm length glovers with dangerous looking pink spikes down the sides to go with the similar brown knee high boots the figure wore with the same spikes along its sides. She wore a tight brown dress the color of Lopmon's fur and it had pink stripes along the sides to complete the theme. 

"Wow..Suzy? Lopmon?" Cody asked hesitantly as he looked up at her thinking that that had to be one of the coolest things he'd ever seen. What would he look like if he did the bio-merge thing with Armadillomon? Now there was an interesting thought. 

"It's us." The digimon said with a smile that was pure Suzy and put Cody at ease. It was still Suzy only looking a little different and wearing a lot more pink and brown. As if to end the ease there were suddenly the sounds of things flying towards them and Cody barely had time to blink before Flurmon had picked him and Armadillomon up and ran at a dizzying speed out of the way with one under each arm. Staring behind him Cody watched the area they'd been standing in explode into flames and a very deep crater. Putting them down Flurmon stood protectively between the large coming form and her friends. "Now evolve him as far as he'll go and then we have some ass kicking to do. I'll hold him off as long as possible." Flurmon said with a nod before racing towards the figure at a blurring speed so that she was nothing but a blinding mix of brown and pink. 

) 

Arriving in front of the huge thing Flurmon stared up at it with her hands on her hips having to crane her neck up high to look up at what looked like a huge Orc from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In other words he was butt ugly and smelled unbelievably bad. "You've got ten seconds to apologize for nearly blowing us up so be quick about it and I just might forgive you and let it go, mister." Flurmon said as she tapped her foot having a feeling he was more likely to "accidentally" drop that huge club he was holding on her then give her said apology. 

"Haa well then you'll be waiting a very long time since I was sent to kill you." The ogre type thing said with a chuckle that was grating to Flurmon's sensitive ears. "Not that you'll be much of a challenge. Now what's say you just stand there and we'll make this quick and as painless as possible." 

"Sorry but my mommy always said not to listen to strangers." Flurmon said with a smile before she turned and began running around and around the digimon is a dizzying blur so that he was becoming unsteady on his feet trying to keep her in view. When she felt he was sufficiently dizzy Flurmon came to a stop and with a mighty bounce jumped up high enough to look him in the eyes as she let lose her attack. "Flying Fury Attack." Flurmon called out as she burst into rapid fire punches and kicks to his ugly scrunched up face. 

Meanwhile 

The Tamers and the Digidestined had stopped for a small break and were resting under trees and whatever shade they could find while they replenished their water from a nearby stream which wasn't very big at all but was better then nothing. The digimon were all eager to drink up and the humans were right behind them before moving to the comfort of shade to nibble on what food they had with them. Renamon and Patamon were able to find some berry bushes and soon everyone was picking and eating what they picked. Cyberdramon also came back from his scouting with some apple like fruit which he handed over gruffly before going back to watching from a distance not liking to be around crowds at all. They hadn't been there long when Cyberdramon reported coming trouble and quickly packing up they all raced to the top of the nearby hill to look down to see what looked like several dozen digimon coming towards them with a black aura surrounding them that was definitely a foreshadowing of what was to come. They were all of varying levels and types but they all shared a darkness and a statement of evil intent. 

) 

"Oh boy...this is not going to be fun at all." Tai said whistling under his breath as he looked at the others then back to the digimon. "I'm thinking it's not a coincidence that they're coming straight at them and looking like they aren't here to welcome us to the neighborhood." 

"Bio-merging is gonna be required on this one..and deletion." Ryo said looking at Rika who nodded in agreement. They were both aware of how that was going to rest with the other members of the party. "I'd suggest all individuals without digimon start running back towards the woods and finding a good place to hide. Calumon you'll go with them to protect them and we'll need someone with a digimon to go with them to protect them. Kari and T.K... would you guys do it?" Ryo asked picking the two he felt were the least likely to be able to handle battle with an ease but were tough enough that if push came to shove they'd do the job. 

"We'll do it." T.K. said with a thumbs up and Kari nodded as well. T.K. realized what Ryo was doing and appreciated it as he evolved Patamon to Pegasusmon so that they could get out of there quicker. Lifting Alice onto the digimon T.K. got on his digimon's back as well before taking off with Kari right behind him with the rest of their charges. Flying high into the air they were waved off as they disappeared from sight. 

) 

"Well I did want to see this bio-merging you were talking about Ryo but I can't say I wanted to see it like this." Izzy said as he watched Alice fly out of a sight and hoped that he would be seeing her again soon. "I guess we should all start evolving to our strongest levels before they get here, huh?" 

"Looks like." Tai agreed as he shoved his hands in his pockets as he rocked on his heels. "Time to save the Digital World again it seems. Agumon, time to get bigger and badder." Tai said as he pulled out his digi-vice and activated it. "Agumon digivolve to War Greymon." 

"Tentomon digivolve to Yanmamon." 

"Renamon bio-merge to Sakuyamon." 

"Cyberdramon bio-merge to Justimon." 

) 

A slight distance away Kurokitsunemon watched with interest as they all changed into interesting forms, especially his cousin Renamon and that dragon like hunk of metal as they seemed to combine with the humans they were with. He'd never heard of such a thing and he wondered how it was possible and why the humans would do it for that matter. From what he could tell their data was combined now which meant that whatever damage the digimon sustained the human would be just as damaged. Fascinating. And there were some missing too..already lost in the struggle perhaps? No, they wouldn't be so calm and collected if they'd already lost comrades in a prior battle before he'd arrived. Hmm the others were obviously hiding somewhere or perhaps engaged in battle somewhere else but he didn't sense that. The blonde one that wore black all the time wasn't here..where was she? She was suppose to be here, Kurokitsunemon thought feeling a sense of fear and dread even though she was no concern of his. But where was she..he had to know. Bounding from the tree perch he'd been resting in Kurokitsunemon began hopping from branch to branch as he went off to find her knowing that his heart wouldn't stop pounding until he knew for sure that she was safe. It didn't matter anymore that he didn't like anyone be they human or digimon. This girl was different and he needed to find her..NOW. 

In the Tamer World 

Hypnos was in an uproar and everyone had long since over dosed on coffee and vending machine snacks as they tried to figure out what the hell had happened to their Tamers and where the hell they were. From what they had figured it would appear that Alice, Rika, Suzy and sister were not in the Real World or the Digimon World they knew. However it would appear that they were in an alternate part of the Digital World according to their information and unfortunately they had no idea how the hell to get them back. Jenyu was driving everyone crazy demanding for information and asking questions, the worried father currently being kept busy to give the techno geeks room to work. Alice's father was handling it a bit better having opted to channel all his worries into getting his daughter back by working like a maniac on ideas to get them back. If where ever they were going was so far away they needed help sending themselves there then it was quite likely they couldn't come back or that there was nothing they could do to get them back. 


	14. Do What We Must

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot lines. Everything else belongs to someone else and not moi unfortunately. Anyway enjoy the chapter and please review! 

NOTE: I haven't watched digimon in over a YEAR and that was the Tamers season. I haven't watched the first two seasons in a LOT longer then that so if I make mistakes with evolving and such that's why! 

) 

Do What We Must 

Flying through the air the small group soon arrived at a small cave they'd discovered earlier that day and everyone getting off of the digimon Alice and Jaarin quickly ushered Mikey and Calumon into the cave while T.K. and Kari tried to decide whether they should barricade the front of the cave. That would trap them inside but at the same time it might hold who ever might come off. They hadn't taken the time to explore the cave so they didn't even know if there were any other exits and they couldn't afford to go and get lost looking around. Plus if they camouflaged it too well the others might not be able to find them when they came back this way. In other words it was a situation with both pros and cons equally represented. 

"So are we all going to hide in the cave or some of us stay out here?" Alice asked once they had Mikey settled in the cave holding tight to Gatomon and Calumon who didn't appreciate being used as a stuffed animals but were tolerating it this once. "Since I don't have a digimon I know I'm likely in the cave with Mikey and Jaarin anyway." 

"Kari and I will stay out here and keep watch with our digimon. That way we can slow them down right away and give you guys and Mikey time to get out of there and somewhere else. We can only hope they don't have the sense of smell that most digimon do." T.K. said with a weak smile on his handsome face. "And they will have to get through everyone else to get to us so odds are we won't even be bothered." 

"Unless they're coming at us from both sides you mean." Alice said with a knowing look on her face. She couldn't help it, she was just pessimistic by nature. "I'll head back into the cave and send Gatomon out. Mikey can squeeze the stuffing out of me instead." 

) 

"If things do get bad..leave it up to us, Alice. Taking care of Mikey is your first priority." Kari said quietly, her voice deadly serious. She didn't want to have to worry that Alice and the others would try to get into the fight if things went bad. Kari would stay at Gatomon's side to her last breath but that was her choice and wish. She didn't want any of her new friends, especially Mikey getting hurt or worse trying to help her. "I know we can count on you to keep him safe and out of trouble." 

"We'll do our best." Alice said gravely as she held out her hand, shaking Kari's then T.K.'s. "No matter what happens..it's been nice traveling with you." Alice added with a hint of a genuine smile. "I look forward to continuing to do so after everyone finishes kicking serious bad guy ass." 

"Same goes and you can count on it." T.K. said with a nod of his head, understanding the unspoken words they were mentally saying. But he hadn't finally gotten up the nerve to ask Kari out just to end up deleted by a bunch of bullies. Besides that he knew the others were counting on him to keep everyone safe and he was damned if he was going to let them down. They wanted at the girls and Mikey they were going to have to get through him and Patamon first. They had no intention of making that easy. "Talk to you later, Alice." 

"Yeah, I'll talk to you guys later." Alice said with a wink then turning around got to her knees and crawled back into the cave and wondered if this was going to be the last time she saw T.K. And Kari. Since they were all data here if they got deleted she would never see them again, not even their bodies. Was that a comfort or a burden knowing that she wouldn't have to see them dead but knowing that she'd have to tell Tai his sister was dead without even a body for him to take home to bury? She'd never really thought about that before but she supposed her father and her friends parents had thought of it. They were much stronger then she'd ever gave them credit for. Reaching the others in a spot where the cave widened enough to sit Alice tried to smile encouragingly at Mikey who sat in Jarrin's lap holding the two digimon while the flashlight they were using to make things a little brighter. "Gatomon they want you outside, good luck even though I'm sure you won't need it." 

) 

"Well I look like a cat at the moment and people say cats make our own luck." Gatomon said with a thumbs up then smiled up at Mikey who reluctantly let up his hold to let her hop to the ground. "And this will all be over before you know it. See you guys in a bit." Gatomon called out as she disappeared down the tunnel in two shakes of her ringed tail. Coming out of the hole to find that Patamon had become Angemon while she was away and looking over at Kari nodded her head and was soon transforming into Angewomon, the two digimon taking position in front of the entrance of the cave with their partners between them looking equally grim and serious as they waited to see what or in this case who would come. Their friends or their foes. Who they wanted to see was a no brainer. 

"Kari, I just want to say that if we do get..deleted...I'm glad I'm here with you." T.K. said roughly, shuffling his feet in the dirt as they stood there. There was so much he wanted to say, to tell her but they all seemed to be caught in his throat and he couldn't get them out. Reaching out a hand he took hers in his, lacing their fingers together. 

"Ditto, T.K.," Kari said, understanding him as she squeezed his hand back. She was terrified at the moment but she refused to give into her fear, to let her fears beat her down. If she did she'd have already lost before the battle had even begun. And she wasn't here alone, she had Gatomon, Patamon and especially T.K. at her side and as long as they were together she had nothing to worry about. "But everything is going to be okay. I know it is." 

) 

Meanwhile 

While Flurmon went about rearranging the ugly digimon's face so that it was even more ugly then before Cody turned to his own digimon and quickly had his friend armor digi-volve to Ankylomon. Going straight for Flurmon and the digimon she was fighting their attention was caught by another digimon coming straight at them from the sky. It looked like a very, very big crow about the size of an airplane with talons posed to swoop down and pick them up. "Gold Rush." Ankylomon called out as he sent the drills in his hands and nose straight at the digimon who barely managed to twirl out of the way so that the drills merely sliced instead of skewered as had been the intent. The bird circling then flying down Ankylomon continued to pound at it with Gold Rushes, just managing to stay out of the digimon's grasp. Flurmon meanwhile was busy landing blow after blow, not letting up long enough to let the other digimon recover. Finally sending it flying backwards Flurmon used it's ultimate attack since she was worried about Cody and Armadillomon. 

"Hare Hurricane." Flurmon called out as it pulled her hands in close to her body, a bright pink ball appearing there then extending her hands out the ball became a whirling pink funnel, shooting out at the digimon and deleting it. Dropping to the ground Flurmon looked over to see how Cody was doing and taking stock of the situation hurried over to help. Sending debris flying Flurmon jumped into the air and joining her hands together above her head brought them down to slam into the bird's head sending it crashing to the ground with a thud. "Now, Ankylomon! Hit him with everything you've got!" 

"Rock Cracking." Ankylomon said in response as the ground started to shake and open from the force of his blow to the ground. Quickly following it with another gold rush the digimon was deleted with the help of another good blows delivered by Flurmon. 

) 

Watching the data disintegrate Cody felt a sense of lose but understood that in some cases you couldn't save the digimon you faced and that the only thing you could do was delete it. That really didn't make him feel any better. Looking over to Flurmon Cody watched as a bright light engulfed her then there was Suzy in front of him holding Lopmon, both looking tired but worked up a smile anyway. Hurrying over Cody placed a hand on Suzy's shoulder. "You okay? Both of you?" 

"Like I said, it takes a lot out of you and those digimon weren't rookies unfortunately." Suzy said with a smirk as she patted his cheek with her hand thinking he looked a tad pale to her. "Then again if they'd been rookies they would have been a lot easier to take out and we wouldn't have had to bio-merge anyway." 

"How did you do that anyway?" Cody wanted to know, wondering if he and his own digimon could ever do it. What would it be like and what would they look like for that matter? Now there was a funny thought. 

"Well it's a long story actually. Mind if we sit down for the telling?" When Cody nodded Suzy sat down with Lopmon in her lap while Cody sat down as well with Armadillomon coming back to his side having returned to his rookie form. "Well you see in my World we had something called the D-Reaper which was doing it's best to delete the entire Digital World and the usual cause havoc on earth. No matter what we threw at it nothing seemed to work but then Dobermon was created to give our digimon the ability to bio-merge with our digimon to defeat the Reaper. Dobermon was Alice's digimon and he gave his life for us so that we could do it. Anyway so basically it's like your D.N.A. Evolution or whatever only its the tamer and his or her digimon instead of the digimon with another digimon. What's kinda cool is Impmon, one of our digimon, has two tamers so what he looks like after bio-merging depends on which one of the twins he's merging with." 

"Amazing, so you have those cards, run them through your D-Arc and then you can merge with your digimon into one being. It must be incredible." Cody said in an awed tone. He'd never imagined merging with his partner but now he was thinking he really wished he had a D-Arc and a card so that he could find out what it was like. 

) 

"It is. But it's also scary, Cody because it physically puts you in the fight and makes you responsible for whatever happens on the battlefield." Suzy said with a serious look on her normally happy and cheerful face. "Normally, when it's your digimon fighting and your on the sidelines anything your digimon does is its own actions. But when you're fighting with the digimon as one person then every deletion is one you had a hand in, ever blow aimed at you could delete you if it's strong enough. But fortunately for us I guess we're all fighters who don't like the sidelines anyway. Well Jeri isn't much of a fighter but everyone else is the type to like to fight their own battles to begin with." 

"Things always start out so black and white but as you get older you see more and more shades of gray." Cody said with an understanding look. A person could have high morals and preach all they wanted but in some situations life didn't give you much of a choice in the matter. Especially in a kill or be killed scenario. 

"I wonder why they attacked us though seeing as we didn't do anything at all. Do you think they were sent to stop us from getting back to the others?" Armadillomon asked, his instincts say that there wasn't time to sit around and talk at the moment. He had a feeling that the fight was far from over and that things were just getting started. "Or redirect us?" 

"That's a good point. If they were going to attack spreading us out would be the wisest thing to do since there's more safety in numbers." Cody agreed thoughtfully as he shared a look with Armadillomon. They knew each other well enough that words weren't even necessary. "And it's likely not wise to stick around here, especially since it's so open with so few places to hide or use as shelter. We should pick up the pace to get to the forest and find the others." 

"Then I guess we better hurry. Lopmon will need a few minutes but she'll be able to run us there in no time. For now it'll be her turn to get carried. Ready when you are." Suzy said getting up with the rabbit in her arms. Nodding at each other the four quickly headed off towards the woods, no idea that they were being watched and studied from all angles. 

) 

"Well, luv. Looks like it's going to be one of those days where we'll be sending up prayers of thanks for being able to bio-merge." Justinmon said as he studied the coming opponents with cools eyes though his mind was racing all over the place with odds and game plans. "Been a while too." 

"Yeah it has..and don't call me love in public or I'll shove this staff where the sun don't shine." Sakuyamon said with a smirk as she tightened her grip on her golden staff, pumped up and ready for action. "This is not gonna be fun for either side." She added thinking that it was going to be around one of them to around twenty of the bad guys. In other words she really hoped that these guys had gotten over their deletion issues because it looked like if they didn't they were going to end up dead. She'd seen what losing Dobermon and Leomon had done to their Tamers, she didn't want to see a repeat anytime soon. 

"You know I really wanted to see this bio-merging thing but this isn't at all how I wanted to see you two in action." Izzy said with a weak smile as he tried not to let any fear show on his face as they faced what could be their finest and last battle. Damn but this was going to be and get ugly. "Good luck guys..we're going to need it." 

"You're telling me?" Davis said with a look of pure hero bravo that was already slipping in the face of the coming hordes. "Well lets kick some butt, guys." Davis added with a thumbs up sign though he wasn't feeling all that lucky. There were so many of them and for all they knew there could be more on the way here or after the others. Well he wasn't going to let them anywhere near Kari and the others, not while he still had breath left in his body. 

"You better believe it, baka." Sakuyamon said with a nod and with that took off towards the coming fight, Justinmon at her side, stride for stride with the others not far behind. Letting loose upon the masses the air was soon filled with dispatching data. 

"Davis I think we're going to need to pump up our digimon's power just a little bit more. Shall we do some D.N.A. Alterations?" Ken said as he looked over at Davis who was nervously watching ExVeemon enter the masses of bad digimon who were swarming around his pal like bees to honey. 

"Sounds like a plan to me." Davis said with a weak grin and quickly the two had their digimon becoming one digimon known as Paildramon who was soon back into the fight causing damage everywhere it went through not near the amount of damage Rika and Ryo were dishing out. Not really surprising since they were fighting to delete as quickly as possible and were use to it. Maybe it had been a while since they'd fought the D-Reaper but there had been others after him who'd gathered numbers and tried to following in the Reaper's footsteps. They hadn't lived long enough to succeed in their missions. After all as Kazu was fond of putting it would be dictators always screwed up and badly because they were stupid enough to want to take over in the first place. 

Noticing Yolei watching the fight with fear in her beautiful eyes Ken walked over to take her hand, pulling her against his side to wrap his arm around her waist, anchoring her there. "It will be okay, Yolei. We'll make sure of that. I won't let anything happen to you or to Hawkmon. I promise." 

) 

Arriving at the battle scene Kurokitsunmon searched for the blonde haired one but couldn't find her anywhere. Remembering that she didn't have a digimon like some of the others it wasn't hard to guess she must be away from the fighting. Back tracking he soon picked up their scent and hurrying in that direction came across a huge group of digimon who were marching along in the direction the smells of the humans was coming from. In other words they were on their way to destroy the defenseless ones. Rage building up inside him, completely unexpected Kurokitsunmon attacked without thinking, going from side to side, attacking from all directions as he went about deleting every last one of them. When there was nothing, not even floating data left Kurokitsunmon stopped to catch his breath then sensing even more coming took off in the direction he'd been going to get there first and issue a warning before it was too late. 


	15. A Fated Joining

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plots presented in my fics, everything else is copyrighted by someone else who actually gets paid. Anyway as always I hope you enjoy this latest chapter and please review because I'd love to hear from you. 

A Fated Joining 

Standing guard in front of the entrance to the cave T.K. and Kari stood there, hand in hand as they stared straight ahead, ears keen for any noise. Their digimon too stood there at attention, muscles tensing and clenching at every faint sound to cross their line of hearing. The digimon were the first to hear and smelling the coming small army and they shared a look of both acceptance and sorrow. There was always the chance that the digimon coming would ignore them but neither thought there was any chance of that happening. They'd send off a small but strong group this way, delete them all then return to their group to go after the rest. 

"What's wrong? They're coming...aren't they?" T.K. said softly, reading the answer on their faces before the two digimon nodded their heads slowly. So their chances were slim, T.K. thought as he saw what their digimons' eyes were trying so hard to hide. They didn't need to say it, their silence said it all. Whatever they were going up against would likely be too much for them to handle alone. They were all going to be deleted and the bastard wouldn't pass by the occupants of the cave either. They wouldn't be able to keep them safe. 

"It's bad, T.K....isn't it?" Kari said softly as she looked up at him, reading him so easily after all this time. She could barely remember a time when T.K. wasn't in her life and that's how she'd wanted it. If she was going to die then there was no one she would rather fall beside. If she could she'd protect him, give her life for his without a thought or regret and she'd even get on her knees and beg him to run. Of course he wouldn't but she would if she'd thought for even a second that he would. But he wouldn't be the man she loved if he would. "I'm glad you're here, T.K. . I'm not afraid because you and Gatomon are here." 

) 

"I'm glad you're here too even though I wish you were anywhere but here at the same time." T.K. said as he squeezed her hand, smiling down at her softly. They'd been together since they were kids, their brothers' best friends and friends themselves. They'd face down the baddest of the bad in the Digital World together, side by side with only their courage and faith in themselves and each other as their weapons. No matter how dark it got, no matter how hard the task they'd triumphed and lived to fight another day. Perhaps today would be their last fight together but they wouldn't go down easy and they'd go down together. But it wasn't over until they damn well drew their last breaths, T.K. thought fiercely as his grip on her hand tightened. "And don't talk like that, Kari. We aren't beaten yet." 

"You're right, T.K., it's not over till the fat lady sings." Kari said with a thumbs up as she made herself smile even as the sounds of the approaching digimon came into the air. "Too bad we don't have a Jigglypuff around huh?" 

"A what?" T.K. said with a confused look then had to laugh when he remembered the old anime series Pokemon which had featured a pink little diva who made people fall asleep as soon as they heard its song. "Yeah but then we'd have to spend at least a half an hour washing all that marker off our faces and if he used permanent marker we'd have to go to school on Monday looking like abstract paintings." 

"Well then at least I wouldn't have to worry about putting on make up that morning, I'd already have had my face made up." Kari said with a laugh even as her hand tightened to an almost painful grip though T.K. didn't complain. "I love you, T.K.." 

"I love you too, Kari. More then anything." T.K. softly replied as the first digimon came roaring into the clearing in front of them. "Now lets give these ugly sons of bitches one hell of a fight." 

) 

It was impossible not to hear the fighting going on outside the cave. Mikey was curled up in Jaarin's lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her neck while he burrowed against her in a futile attempt to get away from the fight. Calumon sat in Alice's lap, strangely still and silent as he leaned back against her while she hugged him tightly to her. There were a lot of them, likely powerful ones given the way the ground and the walls of the cave shook. There were so many roars and screams coming from the mouth of the cave that they'd become like a hideous song that just wouldn't stop playing no matter how hard anyone wished. "When is it going to stop, Alice?" Calumon whimpered, looking up at her questioningly with his usually shining eyes filled with uncertainty and the beginnings of fear. "I want to go home." He added in a near whisper as he leaned his head against her chest. "I don't like it here." 

"I don't know, Calumon." Alice said as she lifted a hand to stroke the little guy's head. "I'm sure it will be over soon though. Soon we'll go home and Takato's mom can make you lots of cream puffs and we'll all have a big welcome home party. We'll eat ourselves silly till we can't move a muscle okay?" 

"Yeah and you can try my world famous brownies, Calumon. You haven't really lived until you bite into one of those chocolate covered heavens." Jaarin called out, forcing a small smile on her face as she tried to help Alice comfort the cute little sugar maniac. "You've never tasted anything like them. You'll be on a sugar high for a week." 

"When is this guy not on a sugar high." Alice said with a smirk and she was pleased to see Calumon smile slightly in return. Smiling down at him Alice's eyes wandered the cave's walls then omitted a short yelp when a head suddenly appeared through the supposed hard, rock wall. 

) 

"So here's where you are." Kurokitsunemon said calmly as he took a glance around the cave with faint interest. The weak and the blonde had been stashed in here for protection apparently and he really had to wonder who's stupid idea that one had been. When he couldn't find her originally he'd thought perhaps she'd been deleted but here she was, safe and in one piece but only for the time being. If she stayed in here she was bound to be deleted very, very shortly. 

"You're..you're a Kurokitsunemon. You're the one who's been following us all this time, aren't you? The one that helped out the boys when they were in trouble." Alice said as she pointed at him in shock, looking him over or at least looking his head over since that was the only part of his body that was visible. 

"Didn't someone ever teach you it's rude to point?" The fox said dryly then turned his head to glance at the cave's entrance briefly before turning back to them. "If there's another way out of this cave you should take it now. The battle's almost over out there and they'll destroy this whole cave easily while you're in it or come in after you. In other words leave if you still can." 

"There's no way out of here but the front entrance." Jaarin said, holding Mikey a little tighter while the boy watched the fox curiously with a mixture of hope and fear. 

"Then I suppose it was nice not knowing you." Kurokitsunemon said with a faint smirk as he started to fade before their eyes. After all there was nothing else to be said. Looked like his fun was over unfortunately. 

"Wait, can't you help us?" Calumon called out, the fox curious enough to solidify once more to hear what the little creature had to say. "Someone as powerful as you has to be able to do something, right?" 

) 

"And why on earth would I want to do that? It's not like this is even remotely my fight and I don't care overly who wins. Your deletions mean nothing to me so why should I risk my data for the likes of a bunch of bothersome humans and a single digimon?" Kurokitsunemon said with genuine curiosity, curious as to what excuses they would come up with to justify asking him to risk his existence for them. 

"Because it's the right thing to do?" Alice said as she sent him a hard look. "But if you have to ask that question then it's obvious that you don't know the meaning of the phrase. I thought that you were a good digimon when you helped the guys but I guess you only did it because you like deleting things. Well in that case you can just go....have a nice and lonely existence without caring about anyone or anything. Me, I'm going to do that right thing." Alice said forcefully before turning to face Jaarin, ignoring the fox. "I'll rush outside and try to distract them, you take Jaarin and Calumon and run. We're sitting ducks here, at least I can maybe give you a chance or a few seconds escape time." 

) 

"But that's suicide." Kurokitsunemon interjected, not at all use to being blatantly ignored when he gave someone the honor of actually seeing him. 

"Yeah, it is. But I'd rather die trying to save the lives of others then die cowering like a cornered animal. Besides...it's better to go down fighting for what's right then living forever with the knowledge that you're a pathetic coward." Alice said as she looked at him, her eyes flashing dangerously. 

"I'll help you distract them, Alice." Calumon piped up, drawing in a big breath to make him look bigger. "I can run really, really fast you know." 

"I know you can, little buddy." Alice said with a smile before looking over at Jaarin. "Okay?" 

"I'll do my best to make sure this isn't in vain." Jaarin said with a nod of agreement, her face set in determined lines. Sharing a look the two women headed towards the opening of the cave with their precious bundles held tightly in their arms. The fox digimon meanwhile simply watched them go then faded away, his mind on her comments. Reaching the mouth of the cave Jaarin and Alice surveyed the massacre that lay before them with sorrow and dread. About five digimon were left standing, the ground and foliage around them torn to shreds from the battle. Laying on the ground in their line of view was Kari, her clothing in shreds as her data wavered uncertainly. Close by Kari was Patamon and Gatomon, both back to their rookie levels as they lay limp, unmoving except for their fluctuating data. They couldn't see T.K. 

"On three then?" Alice said quietly, her eyes filling with emotion though she ruthlessly bit it back. Now wasn't the time for it. When Jaarin nodded Alice counted down from three and then Alice exploded from the cave, throwing Calumon in the other direction as the two separated and went running, two of the evil digimon following after Alice and one after Calumon while the remaining two stayed to finish the job. 

) 

Jaarin coming running out she went straight and clutching Mikey against her ran with every ounce of strength she had, hearing the two digimon closing in behind her. Calling on every track lesson, every ounce of advice she'd ever been given Jaarin continued to run full speed through the forest, ignoring burning and tiring muscles, the pain of branches and debris that sliced and caught her, slowing her down for precious milliseconds. Hearing a monstrous roar that sounded almost painful Jaarin glanced behind her then came to a grinding stop, spinning around in time to see Kurokitsunemon deleting the virus type having already dispatched of the other while she wasn't looking. "Kuro..kitsunemon." 

"Head back to the cave and your friends...I'll retrieve the other two." The fox said stiffly before disappearing in front of her without another word. Nodding Jaarin started to cry relief as she placed kisses all over Mikey's face then took off running back the way they'd come, following the obvious mess the other digimon had made following her. 

"He saved us, Jaarin." Mikey said with a wide smile as he grinned up at Jaarin, tears in his eyes too. "He did the right thing after all huh?" 

"Yes he did." Jaarin said with a grin as she picked up speed. "And now he's going to help the others while we go and help our friends back at the cave." 

) 

Finding Calumon first Kurokitsunemon quickly dispatched the digimon to data hell and sent the useless little digimon back towards the cave while he went in search of Alice. Following his nose he soon found her in the forest, facing off against her two attackers with a stupid tree branch which she was waving at them threateningly. So very scary, Kurokitsunemon thought with a smirk as he hopped to another tree then jumping off that limb landed neatly between Alice and the other two digimon. "Starting the party without me? How very rude of you two idiots." Kurokitsunemon sneered, crouching in a defensive stance as he radiated extreme bad news vibes. "Someone needs to teach you two some manners it would seem." 

"This has nothing to do with you, Digimon." The Skull Greymon roared out, unsure about this latest addition to the mix. He'd never seen this sort of digimon before and had no idea what sort of things to expect and watch out for. But it was obviously just a rookie, nothing they couldn't handle. Then again those other two digimon hadn't looked like much either and they'd deleted all but four of them. 

"On the contrary, it does. And if you want near this human you're going to have to delete me first." Kurokitsunemon snarled, it's fur standing up threateningly. "And I should warn you that I'm a Kurokitsunemon and I'm twice as dangerous as the legends say we are. A Skull head like you doesn't scare me, Boney." 

"And he's not alone either." Alice said as she moved to stand beside the fox, surprising the hell out of the digimon. "And we're going to kick your digital asses." 

Having never fought along the side of anyone before Kurokitsunemon was both surprised and faintly touch by the demonstration. Instead of standing by and letting him take all the heat , do all the work she was standing there, offering her help. Not that he needed it of course but still...it was nice. 

"Prepare for deletion." The Kokuwamon snarled as he and the Skull Greymon came at them with everything they had. Both aiming their strongest attacks at the digimon and the human things definitely didn't look good." 

) 

"Oh no you don't!" Calumon called out as he came running into the clearing having ignored Kurokitsunemon's orders to go to the cave. He had to protect Alice after all and he wasn't going to turn tail and run. The triangle on his forehead glowing Calumon gave out a war cry as he shot off some sort of rainbow beam that formed a rainbow bubble around Kurokitsunemon and Alice, hiding them from view. Looking at the swirling bubble of various colors Calumon had to clap his hands. "Wow it's so pretty!" 

"Damn it!" The other two digimon growled since the bubble had absorbed their attacks somehow. Turning their rage towards the little white digimon responsible Calumon was soon running around in dizzying patterns to avoid being blown to data bits as he called out for someone to save him and quick! 

"Stop right there!" Came an authoritative voice and all three of them turned their heads to watch the last of the bubble dissolve to reveal a single figure standing straight and tall with a wicked looking scythe in it's hand. Looking exactly like Sakuyamon in figure the armor was black instead of yellow with while in the place of other colors and the hair the same shining blonde as Alice's though this digimon's went down to her knees. In the digimon's hand the scythe gleamed deathly sharp and shiny in the sunlight. "Back away from Calumon!" The digimon ordered as it started forward, the voice sounding almost like two voices speaking at once. 

"What the hell? Who are you? Where are the other two?" The Kokuwamon demanded to know as he felt a chill roll down his spine. This wasn't good. 

) 

"I am Devisakuyamon and I've come to pass judgment upon you two for the crimes you have committed against this world." The voice said as it pointed it's deadly weapon towards each of the two evil digimon. "For taking the lives of innocent and spreading throughout the Digital World I sentence you to deletion. Come forward to receive your punishment." 

The two digimon forgetting about Calumon they stupidly charged the strange new digimon and were quickly deleted by it's scythe attack called "Passing Judgment." Their data dissolving on contact Devisakuyamon smiled slightly before walking over to Calumon who raced over to meet them. 

"WOW, WOW! Alice? Kurokitsunemon? Is that you guys? Did you bio merge or something? Did my bubble horribly mutate you and you're hiding somewhere?" Calumon wanted to know as he looked at the digimon before him then all around in case Alice and the fox were nearby and he was wrong. 

"It's us. Now lets get back to the cave and finish saving the day, huh?" Devisakuyamon said with a smile as it leaned down and picked up Calumon before sprouting large black wings that soon had them flying into the air and back the way they'd come. 

) 

Meanwhile 

The battle fierce and consuming the air was full of particles, deleting data of those fallen or lost limbs. Never before had the Digital World seen such a large and consuming battle, a battle that would be retold for years to come by those who'd bore witness or been a part of it. Spurred on by the selfless gesture of the humans who'd come to fight the battle involved not just the humans and their digimon but hundreds of other digimon who came out of hiding to make this stand and drive the darkness out once and for all. Even the lowest on the evolution chain came out, ganging up on Champion levels and fighting till their data was completely gone. Type and ranking didn't matter in this battle of strength and courage, only heart. It was good against evil and no one was backing down. It wouldn't be over until the last on one side fell. 


	16. Final Chapter

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot ideas displayed here and in other fics written by me. Thanks to all those who've been reading and reviewing and I very much hope that you continue to do so. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this last chapter of this fic. It took forever to finish because I lost all interest in it but couldn't just leave it open ended because I know how I feel when other authors do that to me. Anyway I hope you enjoyed and this is dedicated to all those who've stuck with it over the years waiting for it's conclusion. 

Final Chapter 

"There's some sort of battle going on up ahead." Flurmon called out to Cody and his digimon who were at her side. The sounds of war cried and screams were echoing perfectly in her highly sensitive ears, the sounds making her want to turn around and run rather then face the digimon making those noises. But she hadn't survived the D-Reaper only to go yellow now. She was no coward and besides that she knew somehow that her friends were there. So she didn't have a say in the matter. "And I think our friends are in the middle of it!" 

"Then lets get in there and lend a hand." Cody called out and soon the two were leaping into the fray, no time for reunions or welcome backs for the time being. The air was heavy with deleted data and the particles were everywhere, obstructing the vision and making it hard to breath. Every time you tried there was date to choke on or absorb as Sakuyamon, Flurmon and Justinmon did in a frantic attempt to strengthen their unstable data. Unlike the digidestined who were pretty much forced to watch from the sidelines the tamers didn't have that option. Nor would they have wanted it. Fighters to the end they were in their element and they'd die before they'd give up until the very last opponent. 

When the battle was over everyone moved away from the fight, many dragging badly damaged friends from the carnage even though there were no bodies left behind. But there was something about that place now that would forever speak silently of the battle fought there. The digidestined and the tamers stood off to the side together with their digimon, all wiped out and wanting nothing more then to collapse to the ground in a heap. 

"Ryo! Rika!" Suzi called out as she stumbled over to them, Lopmon clutched tightly in her arms as the girl threw herself into Ryo's waiting arms, Rika laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Are you guys okay?" 

"We've been better." Ryo said as he hugged her tight, glad to see that she was safe and in one data piece. "Glad to have you back." 

) 

"Where's Alice and Jaarin? They're okay right?" Suzi wanted to know as she drew away to look from Ryo and Rika, "She's here, isn't she? Is Jaarin nearby? Where's my sister?" 

"She's with Alice and some others nearby." Rika assured the girl, mentally thinking that she had no idea what kind of shape any of the people they'd left behind might be in. She could only pray they'd managed to stay out of sight and unnoticed. "Calumon's there too." Rika added with a weak smile as she absently ran a grimy hand through her loose and tangled hair. 

"How the hell did he get dragged into this?" Suzi wanted to know having no recollection of the little guy being anywhere nearby when she'd transported. "Did he hop in after Jaarin?" 

"He was in her backpack when she went with you. She's been out of her mind with worry about you and I don't even want to think about what your parents and Henry are going to say about all this." Rika said with a wince. Odds were somehow this was going to come back to slap at her too since she and Alice were kinda responsible for Suzi getting it into her head to come in the first place. 

"I haven't felt this ill since that stupid little white blob and I had a contest to see who could eat the most cream puffs." Impmon muttered from Rika's right shoulder where he lay like a sack of flour. 

"Everyone okay over there?" Ken called over as he and Yolie came over carrying their digimon. Everyone was carrying their rookie or lower leveled digimon. Everyone looked the worse for wear and Rika, Ryo and Suzi all had cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Their data was intact though and that was all that really mattered in this world. 

"Yeah but we should hustle back to the others." Ryo said as he draped a supporting arm around Suzi's shoulder. "They might need us and I'm not going to celebrate till I know we all made it through this." 

) 

Finding T.K. took a while since the last thing Gatomon remembered was seeing T.K. charge one of the digimon only to get backhanded away, crashing into the forest brush and never appearing again. Searching everywhere Mikey finally found him and yelling for help kneeled down beside the older boy, taking T.K.'s fading hand in his while he waited for the others to come. 

"Oh damn." Jaarin said as she and Kari appeared, staring down at horror at the sight before them. Patamon had apparently gone looking for his partner because he lay beside the still T.K., not even moving and completely see through so that he looked like a gray Patamon ghost. 

"T.K.!" Kari screamed as she rushed over, dropping to her knees with tears running down her cheeks as she reached out a hand to cup T.K.'s cheek only to have her fingers slid through the data. As it was she could hardly stand without Jaarin's support so all she could do was slump there, tears falling as Gatomon watched from Mikey's arms. 

"Stand back." Devisakuyamon said quietly as it came into the clearing, taking in everything in front of it with relative calm. Pulling out two long cards from thin air the digimon began to chant then pointed the stiff pieces of parchment in the direction of T.K. and Patamon. "Giver of Life!" The digimon called out and the two pieces flew from the digimon's hand to fly into the two fallen, the data suddenly brightening and solidifying so that the two were once again intact though unconscious. "They'll be all right now." Devisakuyamon informed Kari then began to shimmer and shine brightly, the transformation reversing so that instead of Devisakuyamon standing there it was Alice falling to her knees and Kurokitsunemon backing away from them, breathing hard with eyes reflecting fear and horror at what had happened. He'd combined his data with the human and it scared the hell out of him. 

) 

"Kurokitsunemon." Alice said weakly as she looked over at him with a weak smile though her eyes were shining as she held out a hand to him. "Thank you so-" 

"No. No!" Kurokitsunemon said as he backed away, his front paws in front of him as though to ward off an attack. "I'm not a human's plaything. I'm not giving up my freedom to be some human's puppet!" He snarled then disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving Alice with her hand still outstretch towards him. 

"Kurokitsunemon." Alice repeated again weakly then lowered her hand, turning her face away to hide the pain there. She'd lost another partner. Her eyes catching on something shining in the light Alice looked down to see a silver and gold D-Arc laying on the ground. 

"K..K..ar...i?" 

"T.K.!" Kari whispered hoarsely as she watched his eyes flutter open to half mast, confusion and fatigue swimming in those blue depths. "It's okay, everything's okay now." Kari whispered as she leaned forward to brush his hair away from his forehead. "But we have no idea where your hat is." She added with a weak smile, her tears still running down her face though they were tears of joy now. "I love you so much, T.K.. Don't ever scare me like that again." 

"Ditto." T.K. said weakly then with a frantic look in his eyes tried to sit up. "Patamon?" 

"Right beside you. Alice and Kurokitsunemon saved you two." Jaarin called out from where she stood, Calumon in one arm with her free hand resting on Mikey's shoulder. "Thanks to them we all got through this in one piece. Mostly anyway." 

"Thank God." T.K. whispered as his lashes began to close once more, unbelievably tired. "The others?" 

"They're on the way." Calumon called out, instinctively knowing that it was true. "It's over. This chapter of the Digital World is coming to a close." 

) 

A Week Later 

"Well this was certainly one hell of a reunion you held, Ken. Next time try planning it with a little less action, okay?" Ryo said as he held out his hand to Ken who shook it warmly. He would miss his friend but he was definitely ready to head home for some much needed R and R. "In fact next time we'll host, just in case." 

"Sounds like a plan to me." Ken said as he let go of Ryo's hand. "I'll look forward to it. I know Izzy will." he added with a smirk as he nodded his head over to the side where Izzy and Alice were saying their good byes. "It's a good thing those two figured out how to create a portal between our digital worlds or I think Izzy might have decided to come with you guys." 

"He's got it bad all right." Yolie agreed from Ken's side. 

"Thankfully Alice is equally ga ga or I think she'd be getting him to jump through quite a few hoops without him so much as murmuring a protest." Rika said with a smirk as she shook Ken's hand. "It's been...interesting." 

"A nice way of putting it." Tai said with a shake of his head, a smirk on his face. "But with you guys gone I have a feeling it's going to seem a bit boring now. You'll all definitely have to drop in soon to keep things interesting. I know Davis is really going to miss Rika." He added, he and Rika sharing an amused look. 

) 

"No doubt he's mourning my departure at this moment while he's staring at the other lovebirds with envy and why couldn't that be me looks." Rika said as she nodded her head in the direction of Davis who was standing off to the side while T.K. and Kari talked to a bouncy Calumon about something. "Those two are practically joined at the hip now." 

"Don't remind me. It's driving Matt and I nuts just thinking about it." Tai said with a good natured wince. 

"Well we should be heading guys." Suzi said with regret on her face as she walked over, a slightly pink faced Cody beside her, his hand locked in hers in a tight grip. "As it is Henry and Daddy are likely both suffering from ulcers at the moment." 

"And strokes if our grandmothers found out." Jaarin added with a chuckle as she brought up the rear. "I foresee a lot of yelling, hugging, grounding and spoiling in our future." 

"Well then I guess we better send you guys on your way." Izzy said with a weak smile as he let go of Alice's hand reluctantly. "Your parents are gonna be that much more pissed at us the longer we keep you here." 

"But we'll be back to visit whether they like it or not." Alice said as she leaned over to kiss Izzy on the cheek, knowing one on the mouth would embarrass the hell out of him. He was so cute that way. "So okay, everyone going to my world get in the circle." Alice said as she pointed to a circle that had been drawn into the digital soil with a stick. Soon everyone had finished saying their good byes and were in the circle, a tight squeeze. "Okay, let er rip, Izzy." 

"Talk to you soon, Alice." Izzy called out then rapidly typing onto his lap top's keyboard soon had the program running. The circle around the tamers and co began to glow a bright sky blue that shot into the air, encircling the people within for two minutes and then faded away to reveal the empty circle once more. 

) 

"So then my mom threatened to destroy all my clothes and replace them with girlie dresses if I ever disappeared like that again. Plus if Cyberdramon wants to visit he has to ring the doorbell first." Rika said with a chuckle as she rolled her eyes at her fellow tamers, everyone gathered for a welcome back party. It was a week since they'd gotten back and Rika could only say it was good to be home. 

"I still think it's weird how the leaders of people in the digital world always wear goggles. I mean what the hell is with that?" Kazu said as he looked at some of the pictures that had been taken in the digidestined's real world while they'd been waiting for Alice and Izzy to figure out how to get them home. "I mean why do all the leaders have to automatically look like idiots." 

"Hey!" Takato said good naturedly as he swatted Kazu's hat off his head. 'That's no way to talk about your fearless leader." 

"Fearless?" Jeri said as she sent her boyfriend a who are you talking about look that had Takato blushing a little. "And this Cody is really cute, Suzi." 

"I don't like the look of him." Henry muttered, not reality surprised when all the girls gave him amused looks. Hey, he was an older brother, he wasn't supposed to like any guy his sister liked. It was in the big brother rule book. 

) 

"He sounds like Tai." Alice said with a laugh, her hands in her pockets as she sat beside Henry, elbowing him playfully. 

"All big brothers sound like that when it comes to their sisters." Kenta said with a shake of his head, a small smirk on his face. He had younger siblings too so he knew and was glad his little sister wasn't old enough yet to put him in Henry's position. "Well I for one can't wait to go there and meet these guys." 

"Yeah, imagine another "Real World". How damn freaky is that?" Kazu said with a delighted look. "Plus I want to get a load of this Mimi, she looks pretty damn hot." 

"I look forward to her shooting you down with the ease of someone swatting a fly. After all you can't even get girls as bad looking as you are." Rika added sweetly before looking over at Alice who had taken something out of her pocket. She didn't have to be nearby to know it was Alice's D-Arc. The one that had appeared after she'd un-biomerged with Kurokitsunemon. Like losing Dobermon all over again. When you biomerged with a digimon it was like for that time you really were just one person, two halves of a whole. There was a bond that formed that had to be unbelievably painful when it was broken. Alice wouldn't talk about it though. 

"So are you still going to see Izzy later this afternoon, Alice?" Jeri wanted to know with a teasing smile as she looked over in Alice's direction, having picked up on the look on Alice's face when she'd held that D-Arc. A sad and wistful look. "I mean you actually did something with your hair and if I'm not mistaken you're wearing lip gloss." 

"Shut up." Alice said as she stuck her tongue out at Jeri, slipping the D-Arc back into her pocket. "And yes I am as a matter of fact." 

"Tell him to say hi to Cody for me." Suzi asked with a hopeful look. "He's been really busy lately so I haven't been able to talk to him much, especially since some males in my family who shall remain nameless have taken to breathing down my neck every time I'm online." 

"Gee, I wonder who that could be." Takato said as everyone looked at Henry who had the good grace to look a little sorry since it was true. "And anyway I bet Gilmon could eat way more hot dogs then this Veemon." 

"And I can still kick both your asses." Rika said sweetly, everyone having to agree with that whole heartedly. 

) 

A little while later Alice transported to her Digital World then finding a data stream easy enough used her computer to reconfigure it to drop her in Izzy's world. Arriving right on schedule, a little early even, Alice walked over to a nearby rock and sat down to wait. It was a nice day out with the sun shining brightly, always a good thing since the digital world was always unpredictable. Setting her lap top down beside her Alice amused herself by finding shapes in the clouds above her, something she hadn't done since she was a kid. Not having to wait long she soon heard her name being called and looking over saw Izzy walking towards her with a backpack slugged over his shoulder. 

"Hey." Izzy called out as he waved, pleased when she waved back as she hopped off the rock to meet him half way. Boy did he ever have a surprise for her. 

"Hey." Alice called back as she met him half way, pleased when he pulled her into his arms for a hug though he still had to blush about it. "How's it going?" Alice wanted to know as she pulled away with a smile. "And what's in the pack? Are you camping out here tonight? You shouldn't unless Tentamon is here with you ya know. Anything can happen." 

"Actually the contents of this pack are for you." Izzy said with a grin as his eyes danced with amusement. 

"For me?" Alice said in surprise, her eyes going wide. He'd gotten her a present, Alice thought with a slight blush of her own, un use to guys getting her anything, especially for no reason. 

"Yup, this particular item was something I came across a couple of days ago." Izzy said as he took of the pack and unzipping the already slightly open bag reached in and pulled out a small, pure black fox with nine tails tipped with purple, it's golden eyes looking at her wearily before dropping to the ground. "Apparently he was looking for you." 

"For me? But who?...Kurokitsunemon?" Alice said as the possibility suddenly struck her as she looked at the fox who seemed more interested in looking at the ground then at her. 

) 

"It's Vesmon in this form." The digimon muttered, the voice reminding Alice and Izzy of a worn out five year old who'd just finished having a tantrum and was tuckered out as a result. "That whole giver of life attack thing took a lot out of me. I still can't turn into my rookie form yet." 

"You were...looking for me?" Alice said as she stared at the digimon who still wouldn't meet her eye. "But why?" 

"I wasn't looking for you...exactly." Vesmon admitted after a slight shake from Izzy. Looking up he glared at the stupid human then went back to looking at the ground, still not ready to look Alice in the eye "I was just...use to you being around is all. I wanted to know where you were. This human said that you went home, that you weren't going to live here anymore." 

"That's right. My friends and family all live in my Real World." Alice said carefully, wishing the digimon would look at her. 

"But you're still coming back to this world sometimes right? To see this guy and the others right?" Vesmon wanted to know, trying not to sound like he cared overly. Biomerging with the human had scared him but it had also been comforting, nice to be a part of something, with someone. To not be alone. That had scared him too. It had been even scarier to find out that that one taste of fellowship had made him want it, need it almost. So much that he'd actually gone looking for the girl only to find her gone. And that had scared him too. 

"Yes. And to see you maybe?" Alice asked carefully, rewarded when the digimon looked up finally to meet her gaze, surprise in his eyes before it was carefully masked behind blank indifference. 

"Sure, if you want. Now put me down already will ya?" Vesmon demanded, squirming in Izzy's grasp until the human set him down on the ground. Not even bothering to say thank you he walked over on all fours to stand beside Alice, looking up at her while she looked down at him. They understood each other. 

The End 


End file.
